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THE 

CHRIST 

DREAM 


BY 

LOUIS  albert'banks,  D.D. 

Author   of   "The   People's   Christ,"  "White  Slaves,"    "The   Revival 
Quiver,"    "  Common   Folks'  Religion,"  "  The   Honeycombs  of  Life  " 
The   Heavenly  Trade-Winds,"  "  Christ  and   His  Friends,"  "The 
Saloon-Keeper's  Ledger  " 


NEW    YORK  :     HUNT    &    EATON 
CINCINNATI:  CRANSTON  &  CURTS 


Copyright  by 

HUNT  &  EATON, 

1895. 


Composition,  electrotyping, 

printing,  and  binding  by 

Hunt  &  EATf)N, 

150  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 


To  My  Friend, 

fDatciet  Steele  Xane, 

THIS  VOLUME    IS    GRATEFULLY   DEDICATED 

J6^  tbc  Hutbor. 


CONTENTS. 


'■•  PAGE 

The  Dream  of  Christian  Civilization,         _         -         -         -  7 

II. 
Angelic  Models  for  Earthly  Lives,    -----  19 

III. 
The  Treasures  of  the  Highlands,       -----  32 

IV. 

The  Inspiration  of  the  Hope  of  Immortality,     -         -         -  45 

V. 

The  Vital  Atmosphere  of  a  Christian  Life,         _        >        _  55 

VI. 
The  Childhood  of  the  Soul,       ------  68 

VII. 

Inspiration,  not  Imitation,  the  Key  to  Christian  Character,  81 

VIII. 
The  Art  of  Gathering  up  the  Fragments  of  Life,        -         -  92 

IX. 
Heartstrings  and  their  Melody,  -         -         -         -         -          102 

X. 

The  Struggle  for  Life,        -         -         -         -         -         -         -  111 

XL 

Self-triumph  through  Self-forgetfulness,    -         -         -         -          124 


6  CONTENTS. 

XII-  PAGE 

Yesterday,         -_-__---_         137 

XIII. 

The  Conditions  of  Wealth  in  Spiritual  Utterance,      -        -         149 

XIV. 

Dante's  Staircase  from  Despair  to  Hope,  -        -        -        -         161 

XV. 

The  Supremacy  of  the  Spiritual  Life,        -        -        -        -         1 72 

XVI. 

The  Darkness  behind  the  Stars,         -         -        -        -        -         184 

XVII. 

The  Mirror  that  Transforms  the  Soul,        -         -         -        -         195 

XVIII. 
The  Voyage  of  Life,  --_--_.        2O6 

XIX. 

The  Lesson  of  Jehu's  Bow,      -         -         -         -         -        -         215 

XX. 

The  Tragedy  of  the  Napkin,      ------         228 

XXI. 
A  Haunted  Soul,        --------         238 

XXII. 

Heaven's  Perfume — Golden  Vials  full  of  Odors,         -         -         249 

XXIII. 

Frederick  Douglass,  the   Eloquent — The  Most  Picturesque 

Historical  Figure  in  Modern  Times,  -         -         -         -         259 

XXIV. 
A  Farsighted  Religion,      -------         265 


THE  CHRIST  DREAM, 


T 


I.* 

THE  DREAM  OF  CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.* 

"  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth." — Rev.  xxi,  i. 

HIS    vision    of  John    was     a     flower   from    a 


heavenly  seed  which  the  greatest  souls  had 
carried  in  their  hearts  through  many  genera- 
tions. God  had  said  to  Isaiah,  ''  For,  behold,  I 
create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth."  Peter,  also, 
had  anticipated  that  time,  and  exclaimed,  ''  Never- 
theless we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness." 

It  may  seem  strange  on  this  Memorial  Sunday, 
when  all  over  the  land  veteran  soldiers  are  march- 
ing to  places  of  worship  clad  in  uniforms  that  recall 
the  days  of  war,  and  discourses  are  being  pro- 
nounced that  record  heroic  deeds  on  the  battle- 
fields of  the  Republic,  that  I  should  call  you  to  see 
in  the  essential  thought  of  Decoration  Day  a 
prophecy  of  the  coming  of  universal  peace  and 
brotherhood,  a  realization  of  the  great  dream  of 
humanity — the  ''  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  But  when  we 
recall  the  fact  that  the  essential  idea  of  Decoration 


*  A  Decoration  Day  sermon. 


8  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Day  is  not  to  keep  alive  feelings  of  vengeance  and 
hatred,  not  to  revive  strife  or  discord,  but  to  com- 
memorate the  self-sacrificing  deeds  of  brave  and 
heroic  men,  to  cover  the  graves  of  both  the  blue 
and  the  gray  with  the  emblems  of  forgiveness  and 
love,  and  that  in  many  sections  of  the  South  the 
Confederate  veterans  will  on  next  Thursday  cover 
the  graves  of  their  fallen  foemen  with  a  wealth  of 
Southern  flowers,  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the 
spirit  of  our  theme  is  born  of  this  occasion. 

There  are  so  many  prophets  of  disaster  in  our 
day  that  I  am  sure  I  may  be  forgiven  if  I  seize 
upon  this  opportunity  to  call  to  your  mind  some  of 
the  green  buds  of  promise  that  prophesy  the  com- 
ing of  a  better  day  in  our  social,  religious,  and 
national  life.  Surely  at  no  time  since  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion  has  there  been  so  much  to  assure  us 
that  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  is  being  obliterated 
and  forgotten,  that  the  old  feuds  between  North 
and  South  are  being  healed,  and  that  we  are  be- 
coming, more  perfectly  than  at  any  time  since  the 
nation  was  formed,  one  people.  We  have  had  re- 
cently two  remarkable  utterances — one  in  Brook- 
lyn, and  another  in  Charleston,  S.  C. — that  to 
my  mind  are  suggestive  of  great  hope  and  promise. 
It  was  no  small  thing,  the  other  evening,  to  hear 
Henry  Watterson,  from  the  pulpit  of  Plymouth 
Church  where  Henry  Ward  Beecher  used  to  thunder 
his  philippics  against  slavery,  utter  an  eloquent  and 
impassioned  eulogy  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  How  im- 
possible it  would  have  seemed  a  little  over  three 
decades  ago  that  Henry  Watterson,  the  then  rebel 
editor,  should  stand   in    Plymouth    pulpit   to  say ; 


THE  DREAM  OF  CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.  9 

*'  One  thinks  now  that  the  world  in  which  Lincoln 
lived  might  have  dealt  more  gently  by  such  a  man. 
He  was  himself  so  gentle,  so  upright  in  nature,  and 
so  broad  of  mind,  so  sunny  and  so  tolerant  in  tem- 
per, so  simple  and  unaffected  in  bearing — a  rude 
exterior  covering  an  undaunted  spirit — proving  by 
his  every  act  and  word  that 

"  The  bravest  are  the  tenderest. 
The  loving  are  the  daring," 

that,  though  he  was  a  party  leader,  he  was  a  typical 
and  patriotic  American,  in  whom  even  his  enemies 
might  have  found  something  to  respect  and  admire. 
But  it  could  not  be  so.  .  .  .  Yet,  all  the  while  that 
the  waves  of  passion  were  dashing  over  this  sturdy 
figure  reared  above  the  dead  level,  as  a  lone  oak 
upon  a  sandy  beach,  not  one  harsh  word  escaped 
his  lips,  not  one  assault  rankled  in  his  heart  to  sour 
the  milk  of  human  kindness  that,  like  a  perennial 
spring  from  the  gnarled  roots  of  some  majestic  tree, 
flowed  within  him." 

And  yet  again  hear  Watterson,  the  aforetime 
rebel,  say  :  "  I  see  him  lying  dead  there  in  the  cap- 
ital of  the  nation  to  which  he  had  rendered  '  the 
last,  full  measure  of  his  devotion,'  the  flag  of  his 
country  wrapped  about  him,  the  world  in  mourn- 
ing ;  and,  asking  myself  how  anyone  could  have 
dwelt  in  hate  and  anger  upon  this  man,  I  ask  you, 
How  can  anyone  fail  to  cherish  his  memory  ? 
Surely  he  was  one  of  God's  elect — not  in  any  sense 
a  creature  of  circumstance  or  accident  or  chance." 
And  listen  yet  again  to  a  man  who  struggled  for 
the  Confederacy  :  ''It  was  the  will  of  God  that 
there  should  be,  as  God's  own   prophet  had  prom- 


10  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

ised,  'a  new  birth  of  freedom  ;  '  and  this  could  only 
be  reached  by  the  obliteration  of  the  very  idea  of 
slavery.  God  struck  Lincoln  down  in  the  moment 
of  his  triumph  to  attain  it ;  God  blighted  the  South 
to  attain  it ;  but  he  did  attain  it.  And  here  we  are 
this  night  to  attest  it.  God's  will  be  done  on  earth, 
as  it  is  done  in  heaven." 

But  it  is  still  more  startling  to  take  the  train  and 
go  down  to  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  hear  Mr.  John  J. 
Dargan,  an  ex-Confederate  soldier,  also  the  editor 
of  a  Southern  newspaper,  addressing  a  company  of 
three  thousand  colored  men  within  a  month  of  this 
Brooklyn  utterance  and  saying  to  them,  and  through 
his  newspaper  to  the  world  :  '*  I  stand  to-day  in 
v/hat  is  known  as  the  cradle  of  secession,  and  feel  it 
to  be  a  bounden  duty  to  truth  and  justice  to  pay 
tribute  here  to  the  memory  of  William  Lloyd  Gar- 
rison, whose  magical  hand  touched  the  auction 
blocks  of  this  city,  and  they  became  schoolhouses. 
Should  not  this  alone  excite  our  liveliest  and  most 
lasting  gratitude  to  him  ?  More  than  all  other  men 
did  he  do  and  dare  for  the  liberation  and  elevation 
of  the  whole  people  of  Charleston.  For  by  the  ab- 
olition of  slavery  the  slaveholder  was  as  much  lib- 
erated as  the  slaves.  Under  the  slave  system  all 
the  energy  and  talents  of  the  slaveholder  were  ex- 
ercised in  holding  the  slave  down.  I  feel  so  grate- 
ful to  him  myself  for  getting  me  off  the  Negro 
and  showing  me  there  was  nobler  and  better  work 
to  do  than  the  work  of  oppression.  Had  it  not  been 
for  Garrison  and  his  self-sacrificing  band  of  aboli- 
tionists contending  for  the  cause  of  justice  and  free- 
dom, Charleston  might  have  been  still  holding  the 


THE  DREAM  OF  CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.         11 

Negroes  down  in  slavery.  It  is  tremendously  costly 
work,  this  holding  people  down  ;  for  neither  the 
man  held  down  nor  the  man  holding  him  down  can 
accomplish  anything  in  this  world.  That  is  why 
the  South  had  nothing  before  the  war  but  the  Negro 
and  the  art  of  keeping  him  down.  The  very  arms 
with  which  we  fought  the  North  had  to  be  gotten 
from  the  North.  Where  do  your  powerful  steam 
engines  on  land  and  sea  come  from  to-day  ?  From 
the  land  of  freedom.  Your  household  furniture, 
your  plantation  tools,  your  very  clothing,  your 
books  in  your  schoolrooms,  the  Bibles  in  your 
churches,  the  songs  that  you  sing,  and  the  wires 
over  which  you  talk  ?  From  the  free  North,  not 
the  enslaved  South.  And  this  awful  destitution  is 
the  just  penalty  we  have  paid  for  the  privilege  of 
holding  the  Negro  down." 

Surely  when  ex-Confederate  soldiers  make  ad- 
dresses like  that  and  write  editorials  of  that  sort  we 
can  believe  that  the  war  is  over  and  that  the  prom- 
ise of  a  united  country  is  at  least  in  the  dawn  of 
fulfillment.  Of  course,  there  are  multitudes  of 
public  men  and  many  newspapers  that  do  not 
hold  this  spirit ;  but  these  utterances  are  the  proph- 
ecy of  many  more  that  are  to  follow.  We  shall 
soon  see  a  new  North  and  a  new  South  wherein 
dwell  fraternity  and  brotherly  love. 

It  is  surely  not  out  of  place  on  an  occasion  like 
this  to  notice  the  prospect  for  a  better  understand- 
ing between  labor  and  capital.  One  of  the  most 
delightful  things  that  has  occurred  in  many  a  long 
day  is  the  official  announcement  that,  beginning 
with  June  i,  not  only  at  Homestead,  that  place  of 


12  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

tragic  history,  but  at  all  the  many  mills  and  fur- 
naces of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company — which  has 
been,  with  good  show  of  reason,  a  synonym  for 
tyranny  in  the  average  trade-unionist's  parlance — 
wages  will  be  voluntarily  increased  ten  per  cent. 
This  will  affect  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men, 
and,  through  them,  perhaps  fifty  thousand  women 
and  children.  This  increase  had  not  been  asked  for 
by  the  men,  and  for  more  than  half  a  year  they 
could  have  been  held  to  the  present  scale  of  wages, 
to  which  they  had  agreed.  Such  an  act  of  justice, 
done  by  a  corporation  that  has  been  so  bitterly  de- 
nounced, ought  to  warm  the  heart  of  the  most 
rabid  trade-unionist. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  relations  between 
labor  and  capital,  despite  all  the  strife  and  dis- 
cord which  seem  to  belie  the  statement,  are  com- 
ing nearer  to  justice  with  every  decade.  It  is  a 
long  and  toilsome  path  from  the  almost  universal 
slavery  prevailing  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Jesus 
up  to  the  high  table-land  of  universal  brotherhood. 
We  have  not  reached  that  altitude  yet,  but  there 
never  has  been  a  time  in  the  history  of  mankind 
when  the  average  condition  of  the  world's  workers 
was  as  good  as  it  is  to-day.  This  does  not  mean 
that  there  is  not  widespread  injustice  and  that  there 
are  not  multitudes  who  are  cruelly  oppressed ;  but 
it  is  nevertheless  true  that  the  laborer's  hours  are 
shortening,  that  his  wages  are  slowly  increasing,  and 
that  his  opportunities  for  intelligence  and  educa- 
tion are  steadily  improving.  The  multiplication  of 
the  newspaper,  at  a  price  within  the  reach  of  the 
masses,   carrying  the  views  alike  of  capitalist   and 


THE  DREAM  OF  CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.         13 

laborer,  of  conservative  as  well  as  radical,  into  the 
ear  of  universal  humanity,  is  certain  to  hasten  the 
coming  of  justice  and  peace  in  the  relations  between 
capital  and  labor.  The  springing  up  throughout 
the  world  of  experiments  in  cooperation,  where  the 
controllers  of  great  capital  are  entering  with  a  fra- 
ternal and  kindly  spirit  into  intelligent  conferences 
with  their  employees  and  bringing  them  success- 
fully to  share  in  the  burdens  and  in  the  profits  of 
business,  are  indications  of  a  good  time  coming 
when  capital  and  labor  shall  no  longer  be  separated 
by  distrusts  and  prejudice,  but  shall  work  together, 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  in  happy  and  prosperous 
brotherhood.  Paul's  idea,  that,  in  the  social  com- 
munity, "  whether  one  member  suffer,  all  the  mem- 
bers suffer  with  it ;  or  one  member  be  honored,  all 
the  members  rejoice  with  it,"  which  he  learned  of 
Jesus  Christ,  is  to  be  the  great  permanent  basis  of 
solution  of  the  difficulties  between  labor  and  capital. 
We  have  reason  to  thank  God  that,  notwithstand- 
ing frequent  strikes  and  lockouts,  there  is  more 
promise  of  the  coming  of  that  day  than  ever  before. 
I  think  it  worth  while  to  turn  our  inquiry,  if  pos- 
sible, into  a  still  more  delicate  field,  and  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  there  is  more  promise  of  united 
action  for  the  benefit  of  our  common  humanity  on 
the  part  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  army  of  Chris- 
tianity than  we  have  seen  hitherto.  God  be  praised 
for  every  ray  of  hope  which  foreshadows  the  better 
day  of  religious  toleration !  The  venerable  Dr. 
Henry  M.  Field,  in  an  address  before  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Religions  at  the  World's  Fair,  made  this 

most  remarkable  statement: 
2 


14  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

**  It  has  been  my  fortune  to  travel  in  many  lands, 
and  I  have  not  been  in  any  part  of  the  world  so  dark 
but  that  I  have  found  some  rays  of  light,  some  proof 
that  the  God  who  is  our  God  and  Father  has  been 
there,  and  that  the  temples  which  are  reared  in 
many  religions  resound  with  sincere  worship  and 
praise  to  him.  I  am  an  American  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, born  in  New  England,  brought  up  *  in  the 
strictest  sect  of  the  Pharisees,'  believing  there  was 
no  good  outside  of  our  own  little  pale.  .  .  .  When  I 
went  across  the  ocean  I  thought  a  Roman  Catholic 
was  a  terrible  person.  When  I  came  to  know  the 
Roman  Catholics,  however,  I  found  I  was  a  very 
poor  specimen  of  Christianity  beside  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  whom  I  saw  and  the  noble  brothers  devoted 
to  every  good,  Christian,  and  benevolent  office. 
Only  a  few  weeks  ago  I  was  in  Africa,  and  there 
made  the  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  White 
Fathers  designated  by  Cardinal  Lavigerie  to  carry 
the  Gospel  into  the  center  of  Africa.  What  devo- 
tion is  there  we  can  hardly  parallel.  I  knew  that 
some  of  them — the  first  that  were  sent  out — had 
been  killed  on  the  desert  ;  and  yet  at  Carthage  I 
said  to  one  of  the  White  Fathers,  '  Are  you  willing 
to  go  into  all  those  dangers  ? '  *  Yes,'  said  he. 
'  When  ?  '  *  To-morrow,*  was  his  reply.  Such  a 
spirit  is  magnificent,  and  whenever  we  see  it,  in  any 
part  of  the  world,  in  any  church,  we  admire  and 
honor  it." 

We  have  been  passing  through,  during  the  last 
few  years,  a  considerable  revival  of  bitterness  be- 
tween the  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  com- 
munions in  this  country.     It  is  not  my  purpose  to 


THE  DREAM  OF  CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.         15 

enter  into  a  lengthy  discussion  concerning  the  mer- 
its of  the  many  controversies  that  have  arisen  be- 
tween American  Protestantism  and  Roman  Cathol- 
icism ;  but  my  purpose  is  rather  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  production  of  such  men  as  Arch- 
bishop Ireland  and  many  others  that  might  be 
named,  who  are  ardent  representatives  of  American 
ideas  and  American  patriotism,  gives  promise  of  "  a 
leaven  at  work  in  the  old  Roman  dough  "  of  that 
historic  communion  which  must  yet  make  that 
church  a  great  force  in  the  progress  and  stability  of 
American  civilization.  No  one  who  has  traveled 
widely  in  America  and  studied  the  trend  of  things 
among  the  new  generation  of  Catholics,  whether 
priests  or  laymen,  can  have  failed  to  observe  the 
growth  of  tolerance,  the  growing  revolt  against  iso- 
lation, and  the  general  desire,  which  in  many  cases 
has  been  irresistible,  to  join  hand  and  heart  and 
voice  with  men  of  widely  different  faiths  and  com- 
munions in  bringing  about  social  and  political  re- 
form. The  men  who  are  seeking  by  secret  societies 
to  stir  up  sectarian  hatred  and  to  dig  a  deep  gulf 
between  Protestant  and  Catholic  citizens  may  be 
very  honest,  but  they  are  not  very  broad,  not  very 
wise,  nor  very  Christian.  Archbishop  Ireland's 
stinging  rebuke  to  the  attempt  to  unite  Catholics 
under  a  single  party  flag  at  the  last  election  in  this 
State  ought  to  bring  shame  to  the  faces  of  narrow- 
minded  Protestants,  who  have  been  seeking  to  ob- 
tain local  political  successes  by  arousing  sectarian 
bitterness.  America  is  a  land  for  the  sunlight.  Its 
great  battles  have  been  fought  out  in  the  open  air. 
The   pure   sunshine  of  liberty,  the  free  breath  of 


16  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

open  discussion,  have  heretofore  been  the  great  dis- 
infectants of  this  land.  To  these,  to  the  vitahty  of 
truth,  and  to  God's  gracious  purpose,  and  not  to 
secret  intrigue,  must  we  look  for  the  perpetuation 
of  the  Republic.  There  is  no  objection  to  the  cry 
"  America  for  Americans ;  "  but  when  we  raise  that 
cry  let  us  mean  by  it  Catholic  and  Protestant,  Jew 
and  Gentile — all  who  accept  the  American  idea  and 
who  join  hands  in  a  strong,  devoted,  determined 
effort  for  the  uplift  of  humanity. 

We  have  reached  a  time  in  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization when  we  need  to  turn  the  mighty  power  of 
our  Christianity,  not  only  to  seeking  after  the  lost, 
to  building  hospitals  for  the  weak  and  the  infirm  and 
the  old,  to  the  erection  of  houses  of  refuge  for  the 
outcast,  but  to  striking  positively  at  the  root  of 
some  of  those  evils  that  are  the  great  sources  of 
human  degradation.  Florence  Nightingale,  "  the 
angel  of  the  Crimea,"  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she 
won  her  great  reputation  in  nursing  the  wounded 
and  sick,  has  yet  all  the  while  been  more  interested 
in  the  prevention  of  disease  than  in  the  nursing  of 
the  sick.  This  was  exemplified  in  a  letter  which 
she  recently  addressed  to  village  mothers.  She  ad- 
vised them  to  see  that  their  boys  and  girls  grew  up 
*'  healthy,  with  clean  minds  and  clean  skins." 
''After  all,"  she  wrote,  *' it  is  health,  and  not  sick- 
ness, which  is  our  natural  state.  There  are  more 
people  to  pick  us  up  when  we  fall  than  to  enable 
us  to  stand  on  our  feet."  What  a  suggestive  state- 
ment that  is !  What  civilization  needs  to-day  is  a 
mighty  crusade  against  the  giant  evils  which  take 
men  off  their  feet.     It  is  well  enough  to  save  lost 


THE  DREAM  OF  CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.         17 

men  and  outcast  women,  but  it  is  a  thousandfold 
better  to  dry  up  the  streams  which  transform  inno- 
cent boys  and  girls  into  profligates  and  outcasts. 

Christianity  was  never  so  strong  and  mighty  be- 
fore. They  reckon  without  their  hosts  who  count 
Christianity  as  in  its  decay.  Two  Irishmen  were  at 
work  in  a  certain  Western  town,  where  Ingersoll 
had  been  lecturing.  One  said,  '^  Did  you  hear  the 
lecture  last  night?"  ''No.  What  did  he  say?" 
''  He  said  that  Christianity  is  dead."  *'  Indade ! 
And  isn't  it  a  mighty  queer  dead  thing  that  is  build- 
ing five  churches  in  this  town  this  year?  " 

Christianity  is  not  dead  nor  sleeping  ;  but  what 
it  needs  is  a  deep  concentration  against  the  deadly 
foes  of  Christ  and  humanity.  Do  you  remember 
when  Christ  came  down  from  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration and  found  there  his  disciples  utterly 
helpless  to  heal  the  poor  lad  that  was  possessed 
with  a  dumb  spirit,  and  how,  when  Jesus  saw  what 
was  the  trouble  and  heard  the  complaint  of  the  fa- 
ther that  the  disciples  could  not  cast  him  out,  he 
cried  out  in  rebuke,  ''  O  faithless  generation,  how 
long  shall  I  be  with  you  ?  how  long  shall  I  suffer 
you?  bring  him  unto  me?"  How  shameful  it  is 
that  the  millions  of  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  in  this 
land  should  stand  helpless  before  the  liquor  traffic, 
that  demon  spirit  of  our  civilization,  and  fail  to  cast 
it  out  through  lack  of  devotion  and  concentration. 

When  Sir  Philip  Sidney  was  only  a  boy  he  wrote 
down  as  one  of  the  settled  rules  of  his  young  life, 
"  If  there  are  any  good  wars  I  shall  go  to  them." 
Young  man,  young  woman,  I  call  you  to  this  good 
war — as  holy  and  chivalrous  as  any  for  which  noble 


18  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

knight  or  pious  crusader  ever  tilted  his  lance  or  un- 
sheathed his  sword  ;  a  war  for  '^  God  and  home 
and  native  land  ;  "  a  war,  not  against  your  brothers, 
but  against  a  vile  institution  which  blights  with  the 
mildew  of  death  everything  upon  which  it  falls. 
There  is  no  cause  for  which  humanity  prays  that 
would  not  gain  new  impetus  and  inspiration  if  the 
liquor  traffic  was  slain.  I  call  you,  then,  for  the 
sake  of  the  liquor  dealer  himself  and  his  army  of 
bartenders  who  are  brutalized  and  degraded  by  it  ; 
in  behalf  of  the  army  of  besotted  drunkards  falling 
into  accursed  graves  ;  in  behalf  of  the  sweet  homes 
that  are  yearly  wrecked  and  ruined,  and  the  wives 
and  children  that  are  widowed  and  orphaned  by 
this  deadly  curse  ;  in  behalf  of  the  childhood  of 
America,  which  ought  to  be  saved  from  its  deadly 
fascinations  ;  in  behalf  of  the  "  new  heaven  and  the 
new  earth,"  the  coming  of  which  every  Christian 
heart  has  sworn  to  speed.  In  behalf  of  this  sublime 
dream  of  Christian  civilization,  this  noble  hope  of 
universal  brotherhood,  ''  which  humanity  has  car. 
ried  in  its  heart,  like  a  heavenly  s-eed,  for  ages,"  I 
appeal  to  you  to  come  to  this  good  war,  and  to  come 
now  ! 


ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES.  19 


II. 

ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES. 

"Thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven," — Matt,  vi,  lo. 

NO  life  ever  rises  into  true  greatness  without 
lofty  ideals.  When  God  would  exalt  Moses 
to  the  faith  and  courage  necessary  to  be  the  leader 
of  his  people,  he  gave  him  a  vision  hour  on  the 
lonely  mountain  side,  and  appeared  to  him  and 
communed  with  him  in  the  burning  bush ;  and 
when  the  Lord  sought  to  fit  him  for  building  the 
sacred  tabernacle  where  his  special  presence  was  to 
be  manifested,  he  took  him  up  on  Mount  Sinai  and 
communed  with  him  and  revealed  to  him  in  that 
exalted  solitude  the  pattern  for  his  work.  We  are 
all  builders,  and  to  each  one  of  us,  as  to  Moses,  God 
gives  vision  hours,  when  common  things  are  trans- 
figured before  us  and  we  are  lifted  up  to  behold  the 
lofty  possibilities  of  life — hours  like  those  v/hich 
Peter  and  John  and  James  had  when  they  spent  a 
glorious  night  on  the  mountain  top  with  Moses  and 
Elias,  and  Jesus  was  transfigured  before  them. 

Let  us  thank  God  that  he  has  not  ceased  to  give 
vision  hours  to  his  children.  There  are  times  when 
our  souls  are  lifted  up  and  exalted  so  that  all  nature 
seems  transfigured  and  glorified  to  us.  I  had  an 
hour  like  that  the  other  afternoon,  when,  riding  rap- 
idly in  the  train  along  the  Hudson  River  and  look- 


20  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

ing  out  upon  the  spring  landscape,  God  seemed  to 
be  more  immanent  and  regnant  in  nature  than  ever 
before,  and  my  heart  drank  in  peace  out  of  the  beau- 
tiful works  of  his  hand,  from  the  sky  above  and  the 
earth  beneath.  An  indescribable  beauty  seemed  to 
fall  over  mountain  and  river  and  forest ;  and,  like 
the  disciples  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  I 
wist  not  what  to  say,  for  no  language  could  utter  it. 
It  was  one  of  those  spring  afternoons  which  are  like 
a  divine  oratorio,  when  the  earth  palpitates  with  its 
innumerable  insect  life  and  its  reviving  tenderness  ; 
when  the  air  is  like  a  kiss  from  the  warm-hearted 
South  ;  when  the  trees,  from  the  dark  evergreen  to 
the  snow-white  dogwood  or  pink  azalea,  the  sun- 
shine, streaming  from  the  inexhaustible  hearthstone 
of  heaven,  the  blue  sky,  flecked  with  white  clouds, 
like  sheep  on  the  pasture  lands  of  Paradise,  are  all 
in  the  same  happy  mood,  all  at  concert  pitch,  attuned 
by  a  divine  hand  until  they  are  brought  together  in 
complete  harmony — a  halleluiah  chorus,  indeed, 
none  the  less  glorious  because  silent  to  the  earthly 
ear.  The  whole  earth  seemed  like  a  Bible.  The 
everlasting  rocks  of  the  Palisades  overhanging  the 
river  were  its  Book  of  Genesis ;  the  chirping  robins 
were  its  Book  of  Psalms  ;  the  warm  atmosphere, 
illuminated  by  the  sunlight  and  spiced  by  the  fra- 
grance of  orchard  bloom,  was  its  gospels  ;  and  the 
rapidly-advancing  train,  changing  the  panorama  at 
every  moment,  turned  leaf  after  leaf  of  its  Book  of 
Revelation. 

There  is  no  sorrozv  that  an  inspired  soul  cannot 
transfigure.  Humanity  has  never  known  any  bitter- 
ness of  grief  or  dreg  of  misery  that  has   not  been 


ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES.  21 

borne  or  drunk  by  lofty  souls — like  those  of  whom 
Paul  says,  in  his  letter  to  the  Hebrews,  "  Of  whom  the 
world  was  not  worthy  " — with  faces  all  aglow  with 
love  and  eyes  that  mirrored  the  face  of  God.  As 
the  sunshine  sprinkles  down  through  the  forest  and 
illuminates  the  dark  pool,  or  the  starlit  heaven 
bending  over  it  mirrors  its  jeweled  face  in  its  black 
depths  at  night,  so  communion  with  God  and  love 
for  him  and  reliance  upon  him  flood  earthly  sorrows 
with  beauty  and  transfigure  them  with  a  glory  from 
heaven. 

There  is  no  work  so  monotonous  that  a  lofty  soul 
imbued  with  a  Christlike  spirit  cannot  transfigure  it 
and  change  it  from  slavery  into  a  divine  mission. 
To  those  who  live  in  perpetual  consciousness  that 
they  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  God,  all  toil 
which  comes  in  the  line  of  duty  must  become  at- 
tractive. When  the  glory  of  heaven's  purpose  falls 
over  our  work  it  loses  its  monotony  and  its  hard- 
ness and  becomes  a  divine  calling.  When  we  live 
in  that  spirit  we  come  to  feel  and  know  that  men  are 
not  only  called  to  be  apostles  and  prophets  and 
poets,  but  are  just  as  truly  called  to  be  carpenters 
and  tailors  and  machinists,  and  that  one  can  as  sure- 
ly drive  a  team  or  sweep  a  room  or  run  an  engine 
or  nurse  a  child  for  the  sake  of  God  and  humanity 
and  duty  as  to  be  a  prophet  or  priest  or  king.  Work 
thus  transfigured  loses  all  Its  bitterness  ;  it  is  no 
longer  drudgery,  but  is  glorified  by  high  and  lofty 
purpose,  as  well  as  by  the  blessed  fellowship  in 
which  it  finds  itself. 

The  friendships  and  loves  of  our  lives  are  trans- 
figured and  exalted  when  our  souls  are  lifted  up  by 


22  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

lofty  spiritual  devotion.  As  another  has  well  said  : 
*'  Friendship  is  only  a  habit  of  being  together ;  love 
is  only  a  fire  of  straw,  flaring  and  falling  away  in  a 
moment,  unless  its  soul  is  some  generous,  common 
aim,  some  noble,  common  inspiration.  But,  with 
these,  when  we  talk  with  our  friends,  they  are  trans- 
figured, and  we  are  talking  with  Moses  and  Elias, 
with  prophets  and  saints.  Their  garments  are  white 
as  the  light ;  their  faces  shine  as  the  sun.  For,  as 
Jesus  is  the  mirror  in  which  we  see  the  face  of  God, 
so  are  all  good  men  and  women,  in  their  better 
moments,  the  illustration  to  our  hearts  of  the  great 
prophets  and  saints  of  the  earth."  How  can  we 
ever  thank  God  enough  for  these  our  own  prophets 
and  saints,  our  own  heroes  and  martyrs.  Call  them 
up  in  your  mind  while  I  speak — the  men  and  the 
women,  many  of  them  walking  in  the  commonest 
places  of  life,  yet  so  transfigured  by  the  grace  of 
God  and  so  glorified  by  friendship  and  love  that 
their  names  have  been  changed,  as  Jacob's  was  at 
Peniel,  and  they  have  stood  before  you,  your  Abra- 
ham and  Moses  and  Daniel  and  Elijah  and  Paul  and 
John,  or  your  Dorcas  and  Lydia,  or  your  Madonna. 
God  be  blessed  for  these  household  saints  and 
prophets,  these  friends  who  are  transfigured  and 
transformed  into  our  angels  that  help  us  up  heaven's 
stairway!  How  barren,  indeed,  would  life  be  with- 
out them  !  They  make  it  easy  for  us  to  believe  in 
all  things  good  and  true,  and  open  to  us  beforehand 
the  portals  of  a  higher  world. 

So  there  are  hours  when  Christ  is  transfigured 
before  us,  as  he  was  before  the  disciples  on  that 
morning   when   Peter   begged   his   Lord  that  they 


ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES.  23 

might  build  tabernacles  and  remain,  because  it  was 
so  good  to  be  there.  There  are  other  days  when 
we  walk  the  highway  as  the  disciples  did  on  their 
way  to  Emmaus,  and,  all  unseen,  the  Christ  draws 
near  and  becomes  our  companion,  and  our  hearts 
burn  within  us  as  he  talks  to  us  and  opens  to  us  the 
Scriptures.  In  such  hours  the  Saviour  is  more  than 
Lord  and  Master — he  is  our  tender  Friend.  He 
keeps  step  with  us,  his  neck  is  bended  to  our  yoke, 
his  majestic  yet  tender  face  glows  with  sympathy 
and  love.  The  Scriptures  grow  clear  in  such  mo- 
ments, grow  intensely  interesting.  Whereas  they 
were  before  dull,  now  every  word  is  filled  with 
fresh  life.  The  Bible  becomes  transfigured.  It  is 
like  the  earth  in  the  springtime — every  book  swell- 
ing the  leaves  and  blossoms,  every  chapter  instinct 
with  life.  Even  death  itself  is  transfigured  to  those 
who  live  in  the  light  of  God's  truth  and  love.  To 
all  such  ''death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory,"  and 
they  cry  triumphantly,  with  Paul,  ''  O  death,  where 
is  thy  sting?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?" 

It  was  in  a  vision  hour  that  Jesus,  in  an  exaltation 
of  spirit  that  came  to  him  as  he  talked  with  his  dis- 
ciples and  taught  them  how  to  pray,  uttered  the 
words  of  our  text.  The  Saviour  saw  in  these  rude, 
ignorant,  prejudiced,  quick-tempered  men  about 
him,  the  possibility  of  rising  up  into  communion 
with  the  holiest  and  loftiest  beings.  Heavenly  pu- 
rity and  righteousness  were  to  transform  these  rude 
lives.  Angelic  models  were  to  be  lifted  up  before 
them  and  allure  them  over  an  illuminated  path  to- 
ward the  skies. 

I  shall  not  take  our  Scripture  in  its  wider  view 


24  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

of  the  world,  shall  not  study  It  in  its  broader  horizon, 
as  the  promise  of  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
everywhere  ;  but  prefer  to  inquire  briefly  at  this  time 
what  it  is  we  pray  for  when,  in  reference  to  our  own 
hearts  and  lives,  we  pray,  "  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth, 
as  it  is  in  heaven." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  first  of  all,  it  is  a 
prayer  for  purity.  Heaven  is  a  place  of  infinite 
purity.  Jesus  says,  and  it  is  one  of  the  sweetest  of 
all  those  sayings  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall  see 
God."  As  heaven  is  a  place  of  the  highest  and 
noblest  standards,  we  cannot  doubt  that,  when  Christ 
teaches  us  to  pray  that  his  kingdom  may  come  in 
our  earthly  lives  and  his  will  be  done  in  us  as  it  is 
among  the  angelic  hosts  in  heaven,  he  is  teaching 
us  a  prayer  for  purity  of  heart ;  for,  as  President 
Warren  of  Boston  University  well  says,  in  trying 
to  estimate  the  rank  and  value  of  different  kinds  of 
purity,  one  is  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  heart 
purity  is  the  highest  of  all.  True,  it  is  a  blessed 
thing  to  have  a  pure  body — pure  blood,  pure  breath, 
pure  complexion,  everywhere  the  purity  of  absolute 
health  and  cleanliness ;  but  if  we  had  to  choose  be- 
tween this  purity  and  purity  of  mind — pure  thoughts, 
pure  imaginations,  pure  intellectual  tastes  and  habits 
— surely  every  sane  man  or  woman  would  say,  "  Give 
me  the  pure  mind."  It  is  better  to  have  an  un- 
washen  body  than  a  filthy  mind ;  for  if  the  mind  is 
pure  it  will  quickly  find  a  way  to  purify  the  body. 

But,  precious  as  it  is  to  have  purity  of  thought 
and  imagination  and  intellectual  tastes  and  habits, 
purity  of  heart  is  still  more  important  and  desirable. 


ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES.  25 

Purity  of  heart  means  purity  of  love  and  aspiration  ; 
and  by  as  much  as  our  aspirations  and  desires  and 
loves  are  deeper  and  higher  and  more  vital  than  our 
fancies,  by  so  much  is  purity  of  heart  higher  in  the 
scale  of  excellence  than  even  purity  of  thought. 
Those  daring  French  surgeons  tell  us  that  in 
their  experiments  an  animal's  brain  is  sometimes 
removed  by  an  investigating  scientist  and  the 
animal  goes  on  performing  its  functions  in  some 
modified  way ;  but  when  they  take  away  its  heart 
its  life  goes  with  it.  So  it  is  with  man — his  heart  is 
the  citadel  of  his  life.  Not  only  so,  but  as  a  pure 
mind  will  find  some  way  to  purify  an  impure  body, 
so  a  pure  heart  will  purify  the  mind.  The  great 
heart-longing  for  purity  fills  the  mind  with  images 
of  pure  things  and  forces  the  imagination  to  feed 
itself  on  purity.  Dear  brothers  and  sisters,  this 
purity  of  body  and  mind  and  soul,  this  purity  of 
heart  which  shall  clothe  us  with  light,  is  our  rightful 
heritage  and  may  and  should  be  enjoyed  by  us  every 
one.  How  we  are  robbing  our  own  lives  by  being 
so  frequently  satisfied  with  far  less  than  belongs  to 
us  as  the  children  of  God  ! 

A  clever  writer,  in  a  recent  work  of  fiction,  pic- 
tures in  vivid  coloring  the  misery  and  growing  de- 
spair of  the  heir  of  vast  estates  yielding  a  yearly 
income  of  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars.  The  in- 
heritance is  really  his,  free  and  unencumbered,  but 
through  the  intrigue  of  some  scheming,  thieving 
men  he  is  made  to  believe  that  he  has  lost  every- 
thing, 'and  that  beyond  all  chance  of  recovery. 
While  still  possessed  of  a  kingly  fortune,  he  actually 
wants  for  the  common  necessities  of  life  and  is  finally 


26  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

on  the  verge  of  despair  and  desperation ;  when  he 
is  coolly  and  simply  asked  if  he  has  looked  suf- 
ficiently and  thoroughly  into  matters  and  so  con- 
vinced himself,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  that  he 
really  has  lost  what  were  once  beyond  dispute  his 
rightful  possessions.  The  question  so  quietly  put 
begets  questions  and  arouses  suspicions  in  his  mind 
which,  joined  with  his  forlorn  condition,  stimulate 
to  a  keen  search,  resulting  in  the  discovery  that  not 
only  are  the  supposed  alienated  estates  still  his,  but 
a  hitherto  unclaimed  inheritance  is  his  also. 

How  aptly  this  story  illustrates  the  condition  of 
those  who,  through  sin,  have  lost  purity  of  heart 
and  cleanliness  of  imagination  and  the  courage  of 
righteousness,  and  who  now  are  made  to  believe 
by  the  evil  one  that  the  inheritance  had  been  taken 
away  from  them  forever  and  that  they  must  live  on 
with  poor,  starved,  bankrupt  hearts  until  the  end. 
Brother,  it  is  not  true.  Sin  may  have  marred  and 
hurt  and  blighted,  but  the  Christ  who  gave  himself 
as  a  sacrifice  for  our  sin  is  not  only  able  to  save  us 
from  the  punishment  of  sin,  but  to  purify  us  from 
its  guilt,  to  cleanse  us  from  its  impurity,  and  to  fill 
our  hearts  and  minds  with  pure  and  holy  thoughts, 
with  noble  and  divine  ambitions;  and,  if  you  really 
and  truly  pray  this  prayer  of  our  Lord,  it  is  a  cry  of 
the  soul  that  your  divine  inheritance  may  again  be 
yours  and  its  precious  income  of  peace  and  joy  and 
love  in  the  Holy  Ghost  may  refresh  your  enrap- 
tured soul. 

The  prayer  we  are  studying  is  also  a  plea  for  en- 
trance in  a  life  of  loving,  willing  service.  However 
complex   the    Christian    life   may  seem,  it  is  very 


ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES.  27 

simple  and  easy  to  be  understood  when  approached 
through  the  door  of  simply  trying  to  do  what  will 
please  Jesus.  I  wish  I  might  condense  for  you  a 
beautiful  little  parable  of  James  Freeman  Clarke's. 
This  is  its  story: 

There  was  once  a  little  boy  who  read  in  his  Testa- 
ment the  stories  about  Jesus  ;  and,  as  little  children 
think  that  everything  they  read  is  near  by,  he  sup- 
posed that  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  living  near 
by,  in  the  same  town  or  the  next,  and  he  thought 
he  would  like  to  go  and  find  Jesus  and  ask  him 
whether  he  might  not  stay  with  him  awhile  and  be 
one  of  his  scholars.  So  one  morning  he  got  up 
early  and  set  out  on  his  journey  before  anyone  else 
was  up.  He  left  a  little  note  on  the  table  for  his 
father  and  mother,  which  was  this : 

"  Dear  Papa  and  Mamma  :  I  am  going  to 
find  Jesus.  I  wish  to  be  one  of  his  disciples,  with 
Peter  and  James  and  John.  I  am  very  little,  but  I 
can  do  something.  I  can  bring  him  water  when  he 
is  thirsty  and  wash  his  feet  when  he  is  tired  with 
walking ;  and  by  and  by  I  will  come  home  and  tell 
you  all  about  it.  CHARLEY." 

So  Charley  set  out  very  bright  and  fresh.  He 
had  an  idea,  as  Httle  children  have,  that  the  world 
is  only  a  few  miles  across  and  that  everything  is 
close  by ;  so  he  thought  he  would  meet  some  one 
soon  who  would  tell  him  where  Jesus  was.  But 
after  walking  for  an  hour  or  so  he  began  to  get 
tired  and  wanted  his  breakfast.  He  went  straight 
into  a  house  and  sat  down.  Now,  in  this  house 
there  lived  a  very  old  man  and  woman  who  had  no 


28  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

children.  When  they  saw  this  little  curly-headed 
boy  coming  in  they  said  : 

"  What  do  you  want,  my  son  ?" 

And  he  told  them  he  wanted  some  bread  and 
milk  for  breakfast.  They  gladly  gave  it  to  him  ; 
and,  while  he  was  eating  it,  he  told  them  how  he 
was  going  to  find  Jesus  and  asked  them  if  they 
could  tell  him  where  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were 
to-day.  The  old  man  and  woman  were  astonished 
at  this  question,  and  said : 

"  My  dear  child,  we  do  not  know." 

So  he  thanked  them  for  his  breakfast,  and  they 
gave  him  a  piece  of  bread  to  take  with  him,  and  he 
went  away.  Then  the  old  man  and  woman  said  to 
each  other : 

"  Is  it  not  strange  that  this  little  boy  should  be 
trying  to  find  Jesus,  and  we  have  never  tried  to  be 
Christians  all  our  lives  ?  " 

So  they  resolved  they  would  begin  then  to  be 
Christians,  and  they  knelt  down  and  prayed  God  to 
make  them  so,  and  they  felt  very  happy. 

The  little  boy  went  on,  and  came  to  where  two 
men  were  sitting  and  disputing.  One  man  was  an 
infidel,  and  did  not  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  at  all. 
The  other  was  a  Christian,  but  he  was  a  hard  sort 
of  Christian,  who  could  argue  for  Christ,  but  did  it 
as  if  he  were  scolding.  The  little  boy  stopped  to 
listen,  and  presently  went  up  and  said  : 

"  If  this  man  wants  to  know  Christ,  don't  wait 
here  talking,  but  come  help  me  to  find  him,  for  1 
am  looking  for  him,  too." 

Then  he  took  them  each  by  the  hand  and  led 
them  along,  and  they  stopped  arguing,  curious  to 


ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES.  29 

see  where  he  was  going ;  and  they  went  along  to- 
gether. Presently  they  came  to  where  some  one 
was  lying  on  the  ground,  groaning  with  pain.  Then 
the  little  boy  said  : 

''  O,  now  we  shall  find  Jesus,  for  he  always  goes 
where  people  are  sick;  he  will  come  here  presently. 
Let  us  sit  down  by  the  sick  man  and  nurse  him  and 
make  him  comfortable,  and  Jesus  will  come  here 
directly." 

So  they  sat  down  and  nursed  the  sick  man,  till 
at  last  he  felt  better,  and  got  up  and  went  away 
thanking  them. 

But  no  Jesus  came,  and  the  little  boy  began  to 
be  discouraged.     However,  he  got  up  and  said  : 

*'  Let  us  go  and  look  farther  ;  for  he  said,  *  Seek, 
and  ye  shall  find.'  " 

But  the  two  men  said  : 

''  No,  little  boy,  we  will  go  no  farther,  for  we 
know  how  to  find  him  now.  We  see  that  Jesus  is 
not  to  be  found  in  disputing,  but  by  following  him. 
Good-bye,  little  boy  ;  you  have  done  us  a  great  deal 
of  good." 

Then  the  little  fellow  journeyed  on  till  he  came 
to  where  a  poor  beggar  sat  on  the  ground,  and  he 
asked  the  little  boy  for  bread.  Charley  took  the 
piece  he  had  saved  in  the  morning  and  broke  it  in 
two  and  gave  the  beggar  half  and  said  : 

"  Take  this  and  eat  it  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and 
I  will  eat  the  rest." 

And  the  beggar  said  : 

"  Dear  little   boy,  this   is  the   first  time   I   have 

eaten  the  Lord's  Supper  in  fifty  years." 

So  night  came  on,  and  the  little  fellow  began  to 
3 


30  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

be  frightened.  But  the  beggar  asked  him  who  he 
was  and  where  he  Hved,  and  he  told  the  whole 
story.  Then  the  beggar  got  up  and  went  with  him 
and  showed  him  the  way  home.  And  his  father 
and  mother,  who  had  been  looking  for  him  all  day, 
were  very  glad,  and  said : 

*'  We  have  sought  you  all  day." 

But  he  said : 

"  Why  so  ?     I  have  been  looking  for  Jesus." 

Then  he  crept  into  his  little  bed  and  went  to 
sleep.  And  he  dreamed  ;  and,  behold,  Jesus  came 
to  him  and  said  : 

"  My  dear  little  boy,  you  have  looked  for  me  all 
day,  and  I  have  been  near  you  all  the  time.  I  was 
with  you  when  you  went  to  look  for  me  and  when 
you  went  to  see  the  old  man  and  woman  and  the 
two  arguers  and  the  sick  man  and  the  beggar  ;  and 
you  have  led  me  to  all  of  them.  The  old  man  and 
woman  will  now  be  my  disciples  ;  the  two  arguers 
have  left  off  disputing  and  have  begun  to  do  good 
works  ;  the  sick  man  blesses  God  for  the  charity 
of  his  fellow-men  ;  and  the  old  beggar  feels  that 
he  is  not  alone  in  the  world.  Go  on,  little  boy, 
and  always  do  so,  and  I  will  always  be  with  you. 
Though  you  cannot  see  me  you  shall  feel  me  in  your 
heart." 

I  do  not  know  anything  better  to  say  to  any  of 
you  than  ''  Go  thou  and  do  likewise,"  in  the  spirit 
of  the  prayer  of  our  Lord. 

We  cannot  fail  to  notice  for  a  moment  that  this 
is  a  cry  of  cheerful  submission  to  the  will  of  God. 
If  we  enter  fully  into  it  we  shall  be  able  to  sing 
with  the  poet : 


ANGELIC  MODELS  FOR  EARTHLY  LIVES.  31 

"  O  God,  thy  will  be  done  !  | 

We  know  not  what  the  morrow  may  reveal,  j 

What  dole  soe'er  of  misery  or  weal,  j 

Yet  may  our  spirits  with  thine  own  be  one  ;  j 

And  set  upon  our  brows  thy  royal  seal,  j 

The  name  of  Christ,  thy  Son. 

"  We  ask  thee  for  thy  peace  !  ' 

Unto  the  morrow  shall  suffice  its  pain,  ■ 

And  every  loss  may  prove  a  surer  gain,  3 

And  every  bondage  lead  to  glad  release.  i 

Let  not  thy  discipline  be  sent  in  vain  ;  j 

Yet  give  us,  Lord,  thy  peace. 

"  We  ask  to  do  thy  will. 
Not  knowing  yet  what  all  that  will  may  be. 
But  trusting  that  no  dire  calamity. 

No  hopeless  grief,  or  needless  breath  of  ill, 
Can  ever  reach  the  soul  that  rests  in  thee,  j 

And  we  can  wait  thy  will.  i 


"  Thy  comfort  comes  through  pain. 
Thy  tender  hand  the  heavy  burden  lifts. 
And  hope  shines  through  the  clouds  in  golden  rifts 

And  unto  those  who  trust  thee,  come  again 
Courage  and  peace,  and  all  such  kindred  gifts. 

Clear  shining  after  rain. 

"  And  this  is  better  so. 
Who  knows  the  depth  is  strong  to  scale  the  height, 
Who  knows  the  darkness  best  will  love  the  light ; 

And  they  who  bear  Christ's  cross  shall  surely  know 
The  blessedness  of  those  who  walk  in  white 

After  their  toil  belov/. 

"  Thy  children  must  be  tried. 
And  so  we  dare  not  ask  for  joy  or  rest. 
Whatever  thou  shalt  choose  for  us  is  best  ; 

Whatever  sorrow  life's  short  day  may  hide 
We  know  that  when  we  waken  on  thy  breast 

We  shall  be  satisfied." 


32  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


III. 

THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS. 

"  He  made  him  ride  on  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  that  he  might  eat 
the  increase  of  the  fields  ;  and  he  made  him  to  suck  honey  out  of  the 
rock,  and  oil  out  of  the  flinty  rock." — Deut.  xxxii,  13. 

IN  his  last  poem,  written  only  a  little  while  before 
his  death,  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  went  back 
in  his  memory  and  lived  again  in  thought  in  the 
old  Scotch  Highlands  which  were  so  dear  to  him. 
The  poem  is  worthy  of  his  genius,  and  interprets 
the  higher  voices  which  speak  to  sensitive  souls 
from  the  "  high  places  of  the  earth  :  " 

"  In  the  highlands,  in  the  country  places, 

Where  the  old  i)lain  men  have  rosy  faces, 

And  the  young  fair  maidens 

Quiet  eyes ; 

Where  essential  silence  cheers  and  blesses, 

And  forever  in  the  hill  recesses 

Her  more  lovely  music 

Broods  and  dies  ; 

"  O,  to  mount  again  v^^here  erst  I  haunted  ; 
Where  the  old  red  hills  are  bird-enchanted, 
And  the  low,  green  meadows 
Bright  with  sward  ; 

And  when  evening  dies,  the  million-tinted. 
And  the  night  has  come  and  planets  glinted, 
Lo,  the  valley  hollow 
Lamp-bestarred ! 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS.  33 

"  O,  to  dream ;  O,  to  awake  and  wander 
There,  and  with  delight  to  take  and  render, 
Through  the  trance  of  silence, 
Quiet  breath ! 

Lo  !  for  there,  among  the  flowers  and  grasses 
Only  the  mightier  movement  sounds  and  passes ; 
Only  winds  and  rivers, 
Life  and  death." 

The  suggestion  of  the  Scripture  we  are  studying 
is  that  there  are  such  spiritual  highlands  for  the 
soul — gloriously  tinted  skies ;  lofty  places  of  heav- 
enly communion  where  plain  men  have  rosy  faces ; 
quiet  hours  where  the  very  silence  is  full  of  a  loving 
music  that  broods  in  tenderness ;  lofty  table-lands 
where  heavenly  trade  winds  blow,  where  the  river 
of  the  water  of  life  is  flowing,  and  where  great 
thoughts  and  noble  joys  inspire  generous  souls. 

The  lesson  that  I  wish  to  impress  upon  your 
thought  is  that  it  is  a  high  and  noble  thing  to  be  a 
Christian  man  or  woman  ;  that  the  Christian  life  is 
infinitely  greater  and  grander  than  any  other  life  in 
the  world.  We  slander  our  Christianity  when  we 
put  it  on  a  par  with  any  mere  morality  or  formal 
righteousness:  Jesus  Christ  said  to  his  disciples 
that  unless  their  righteousness  exceeded  the  right- 
eousness of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  they  could  not 
enter  into  his  kingdom.  Christianity  is  to  be  a  holy 
thing.  It  is  the  high  table-land  that  lifts  itself  in 
lofty  stretches  above  the  valley.  It  inspires  us  to 
live  a  nobler  life  than  the  world  has  the  power  to 
conceive. 

I  have  noted  two  testimonies  to  this  truth  from 
widely  different  characters  within  a  few  days.  One 
was  the  testimony  of  a  young  mechanic  who  had 


34  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

recently  strayed  into  a  revival  meeting  and,  hearing 
the  message  of  the  Saviour,  was  so  convicted  of  sin 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  that  he  gave  his  heart  to  God 
then  and  there.  He  went  home  and  told  his  wife 
that  he  had  become  a  Christian.  He  immediately 
set  up  the  family  altar  and  began  to  ask  a  blessing 
on  the  food  at  the  table.  '*  One  day,"  so  his  wife 
reported,  "  he  lifted  up  his  face  from  the  table  over 
which  he  had  bowed  to  give  thanks  for  his  daily 
bread  and,  with  tears  running  down  his  face,  said  : 
'  Wife,  it  has  only  been  a  week  since  I  began  to  hve. 
It  is  a  blessed  thing  to  be  alive  with  God !  *  " 

The  other  testimony  is  from  Mr.  Gladstone,  who 
is  regarded  throughout  the  world  as  the  most  re- 
markable combination  of  intellectual  power  and 
moral  purity  now  living.  Talking  to  a  company  of 
university  students  recently,  he  made  this  wonder- 
ful utterance :  "  If  you  wish  to  lead  a  life  that  is 
manful,  modest,  truthful,  active,  diligent,  humble, 
and  generous,  take  for  your  motto  those  wonderful 
words  of  the  apostle  where  he  says,  '  Whatsoever 
things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  what- 
soever things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are 
of  good  report.'  Everything  that  is  good  is  to  be 
before  your  view,  and  nothing  that  is  not  good. 
Whatever  you  aspire  to,  aspire  above  all  else  to  be 
Christians  and  to  Christian  perfection."  In  that 
majestic  utterance  we  have  the  secret  of  the  true 
and  lasting  greatness  of  Mr.  Gladstone. 

No  great  life  ever  comes  without  lofty  aspira- 
tions and  without  strong  inspirations.  The  high- 
est duty  of  the   pulpit   is,  not  to  do  the  thinking 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS.  35 

for  the  people,  but  to  inspire  them  to  do  high 
and  lofty  thinking  for  themselves  ;  not  to  set 
before  those  who  listen  a  routine  prescription  as  to 
conduct,  however  good,  but  so  to  arouse  the  soul  to 
aspire  after  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  that  a 
low  and  vulgar  life  shall  be  impossible.  More  young 
men  and  women  are  robbed  of  their  highest  possi- 
bilities through  lack  of  noble  aspiration  and  a  prac- 
tical faith  in  the  possible  grandeur  of  their  own 
lives  than  through  anything  else.  To  dare  to  be- 
lieve that  the  most  saintly  life  that  was  ever  lived 
on  the  earth  is  as  possible  to  you  as  to  any  other ; 
that  the  most  sublime  heroism  that  has  ever  faced 
danger  and  rejoiced  in  self-denial,  carried  burdens 
for  the  oppressed  and  won  victory  for  righteousness, 
is  possible  for  you  ;  that  that  high  and  purer  life 
upon  the  highlands  of  the  soul  is  the  atmosphere 
for  which  you  were  born  and  the  natural  home  of 
your  heart — to  believe  that,  to  feel  that,  is  to  enter 
the  kingdom  of  God,  to  come  into  fellowship  with 
Jesus  Christ. 

The  great  French  painter,  Bastien  Lepage,  who 
died  not  long  ago,  was  pursued  by  unmerciful  dis- 
aster through  his  youth  in  his  efforts  to  study  art. 
His  mother  worked  in  the  fields  to  keep  the  sickly 
boy  at  school.  At  fifteen  he  went  alone  to  Paris, 
and  starved  for  seven  years.  He  painted  without 
success — but  still  he  painted.  He  had  just  finished 
a  picture  which  he  hoped  to  send  to  the  Salon  when 
Paris  was  besieged  ;  and  he  rushed  with  his  com- 
rades to  the  trenches.  On  the  first  day  a  shell  fell 
into  his  studio  and  destroyed  his  picture,  and  an- 
other shell  burst  at  his   feet,  wounding  him.     He 


36  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

was  carried  home  and  lay  ill  and  idle  for  two  years. 
Then  he  returned  to  Paris  and,  reduced  to  absolute 
want,  painted  cheap  fans  for  a  living.  One  day  a 
manufacturer  of  some  patent  medicine  ordered  a 
picture  from  hiip  to  illustrate  its  virtues.  Lepage, 
who  was  always  sincere,  gave  his  best  work  to  this 
advertisement.  He  painted  a  landscape  in  the  April 
sunlight ;  the  leaves  of  tender  green  quivered  in 
the  breeze;  a  group  of  beautiful  young  girls  gath- 
ered around  a  fountain  from  which  the  elixir  of 
youth  sprang  in  a  bubbling  stream.  Lepage  be- 
lieved there  was  real  merit  in  his  work  at  last. 
"  Let  me  offer  it  at  the  Salon  ?  "  he  asked  his  patron. 
The  manufacturer  was  delighted  to  have  him  do  it. 
"  But  first  paint  a  rainbow  arching  over  the  foun- 
tain," he  said,  *'  with  the  name  of  my  medicine  upon 
it."  Lepage  refused.  "  Then  I  will  not  pay  you  a 
sou  for  the  picture."  The  price  of  this  picture 
meant  bread  for  month?,  and  the  painter  had  long 
needed  bread.  The  chance  of  admission  to  the  Sa- 
lon was  small.  He  hesitated,  then  he  silenced  his 
hunger  and  carried  the  canvas  to  the  Salon.  It  was 
admitted.  Its  great  success  insured  Lepage  a  place 
in  public  recognition,  and  his  later  work  a  place 
among  the  greatest  artists  of  his  time.  His  great 
ambition,  his  undying  purpose  to  have  honor  and 
fame  rather  than  bread,  to  refuse  to  be  satisfied 
with  anything  less  than  the  highest  success,  alone 
made  such  a  triumph  possible.  It  is  just  such  an 
inspiration  and  ambition,  infinitely  purified  and  ex- 
alted by  association  with  Jesus  Christ,  which  every 
Christian  must  have  in  order  to  fulfill  the  lofty  des- 
tiny which  God  intends  for  us. 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS.  37 

There  is  always  a  temptation  to  be  satisfied  with 
a  mere  compromise  life.  The  devil  says  to  us, 
''  You  are  formed  of  such  common  clay  that  high 
sainthood,  lofty  heroism,  and  sublime  purpose  are 
impossible  to  you.  There  are  rare  souls  that  were 
made  to  fly  and  bathe  their  pinions,  like  the  eagle, 
in  the  face  of  the  sun  ;  but  you  are  of  the  earth 
earthy,  and  must  keep  close  to  the  ground."  All 
such  thoughts  are  delusions  of  the  enemy.  Lofty 
spiritual  possibilities  are  within  the  reach  of  every 
one  of  us.  They  are  our  birthright.  They  are 
guaranteed  to  us  in  the  charter  of  our  creation. 
Every  man  or  woman  that  has  ever  tried  to  do 
large  things  has  been  tempted  to  give  up  and  be 
satisfied  with  something  less,  and  the  yielding  to 
or  refusing  that  temptation  has  meant  destiny,  high 
or  low. 

When  Nehemiah  undertook  to  rebuild  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  and  had  marvelously  inspired  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  so  infusing  his  own  faith  and 
earnestness  into  them  that  the  whole  city  was  at 
work  side  by  side,  in  relays,  to  replace  the  broken 
walls ;  his  enemies,  when  they  could  not  scare  him 
out  of  his  purpose  or  turn  him  from  it  by  ridicule, 
sent  him  a  soft,  gentle,  insidious  sort  of  a  letter  in 
which  they  said,  "  Let  us  go  down  to  the  plains  of 
Ono  and  have  a  council."  But  grand  Nehemiah 
sent  back  word,  "  I  am  doing  a  great  work,  so  that 
I  cannot  come  down."  And  you  see  the  result  of 
that  wise  decision  in  the  wonderful  result  which 
Nehemiah  was  able  to  accomplish.  The  Rev. 
Frank  Hyatt  Smith  says  that,  in  an  age  when 
shingles   rot,  and   shoes  are  made  of  paper   soles, 


38  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

and  ground  peas  become  ground  coffee,  and  cotton 
parades  as  wool,  and  paint  is  thinner  than  water, 
and  all  sorts  of  public  institutions  need  the  over- 
hauling of  investigating  committees,  it  is  very  re- 
freshing to  read  of  a  man  Avho  restored  an  immense 
wall  solidly  and  systematically,  scorned  assistance 
from  local  croakers,  compelled  each  mason  to  do  his 
own,  and  not  his  neighbor's,  work,  gave  every 
laborer  a  sword  and  a  trowel,  fed  a  hundred  and 
fifty  at  his  table  each  day,  thought  more  of  public 
duty  than  of  private  comfort,  did  away  with  finan- 
cial pawnbrokers,  abolished  slavery  without  blood, 
refused  any  salary  as  governor,  compiled  an  accu- 
rate census  of  the  people,  instituted  a  genuine  wor- 
ship and  reading  of  the  law,  ordained  a  revival  with- 
out evangelists,  provided  an  equitable  system  of 
representation,  separated  the  people  on  the  basis  of 
character,  forbade  Sunday  labor,  interdicted  such 
marriages  as  Solomon  sanctioned,  and  marvelously 
governed  as  many  people  as  the  whole  State  of 
New  York  contains  without  the  aid  of  either  a 
''  boss  "  or  a  Tammany  Hall  to  give  him  instruc- 
tions. All  that  was  accomplished  by  a  man  who 
was  brave  enough,  when  he  had  a  noble  conception 
of  duty,  to  go  ahead  and  do  it  and  refuse  absolutely 
to  come  down  to  any  compromise  on  the  plains  of 
Ono. 

It  is  such  a  courage  as  that  which,  above  all 
things  else,  we  need  to  exalt  and  glorify  our  daily 
lives.  A  courage  which  fears  no  one  but  God,  and 
can  look  the  devil  in  the  face  with  an  unblanched 
cheek.  Sustained  by  such  a  courage  we  may  sing, 
with  Amy  Seville  Wolff: 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS.  39 

"  I  fear  no  more  the  coming  years, 
What  they  may  bring. 
Days  may  be  sunless,  night  bereft  of  stars  ; 
Mayhap  the  brightest  blossoms  of  the  spring 
Shall  first  be  bound  with  winter's  icy  bars. 
But  still  beyond  the  cloud  is  always  light. 
The  stars  are  in  the  sky  all  night, 
And  deepest  snows  are  they  which  hide  the  bright, 
Green  heart  of  spring. 

"  Not  all  of  life  is  dreamed  away 
In  summer  skies. 
Time  holds  a  loss,  a  loneliness  for  me  ; 
But  hope  is  strong,  and  faith  dare  not  be  weak, 

And  love  abides,  the  greatest  of  the  three. 
Enough  if  sweet  to-morrow  will  repay 
The  disappointment  of  to-day. 
Light  follows  dark  ;  sun,  rain ;  seas  ebb  away 
Again  to  rise. 

"  And  if  the  rugged  road  of  life 
Doth  wind  around 
The  mountain  side,  where  heavy  clouds  hang  low. 
And,  as  I  climb,  the  pilgrim  staff  be  changed 

Into  a  cross,  still  onward  would  I  go  ! 
The  peaks  of  only  highest  mountains  rise 
Above  the  clouds  to  bluest  skies, 
And  round  the  heaviest  cross  is  hung  the  prize, 
The  brightest  crown." 

We  have  suggested  to  us  in  this  Scripture 
picture  which  we  are  studying  the  precious  rewards 
of  such  a  lofty  and  elevated  life.  The  whole  para- 
graph is  well  worth  quoting:  "The  Lord's  portion 
is  his  people ;  Jacob  is  the  lot  of  his  inheritance. 
He  found  him  in  a  desert  land,  and  in  the  waste 
howling  wilderness  ;  he  led  him  about,  he  instructed 
him,  he  kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye.      As  an 


40  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her 
young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them, 
beareth  them  on  her  wings :  so  the  Lord  alone  did 
lead  him,  and  there  was  no  strange  god  with  him. 
He  made  him  ride  on  the  high  places  of  the  earth, 
that  he  might  eat  the  increase  of  the  fields  ;  and  he 
made  him  to  suck  honey  out  of  the  rock,  and  oil  out 
of  the  flinty  rock."  What  a  graphic  picture  it  is! 
As  the  bee  hunter,  climbing  up  into  the  lofty 
places,  finds  hidden  away  in  the  caves  of  the  rocks 
the  wild  bees  storing  up  their  honey,  and  in  lofty 
and  almost  inaccessible  places  finds  the  sweetest 
honey  culled  from  the  mountain  flowers,  so  he  who 
climbs  aloft  in  his  ambition  and  purpose  to  know 
the  secret  of  God,  to  live  in  highest  associations, 
and  to  find  the  spiritual  treasures  of  the  highlands, 
shall  find  in  those  lofty  and  rocky  places  the  sweet- 
est spiritual  honey,  the  richest  and  noblest  food  for 
his  soul.  The  rock  of  trial  and  hardship  shall  be- 
come the  rock  of  salvation. 

Dr.  Charles  G.  Ames  very  beautifully  says  that 
there  is  a  fountain  of  heart's-ease  in  the  brave  ac- 
ceptance of  whatever  sorrows  and  trials  fall  to  our 
lot.  When  Jesus  stands  fronting  the  cross  he  says, 
with  something  of  the  joy  which  was  the  undercur- 
rent of  that  life  which  was  so  "  acquainted  with 
grief,"  "  The  cup  which  my  Father  hath  given  me, 
shall  I  not  drink  it?"  There  is  an  inspiration  that 
comes  to  the  climber,  the  one  whose  face  is  turned 
toward  the  mountain  top.  To  aspire  to  live  the 
noblest  possible  life  has  a  courage  in  it  all  its  own. 
To  such  a  soul  burdens  become  wings.  But  if  one 
is  sulky  or  cowardly,  or  if  he  whimpers  and  pities 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS.  41 

himself,  or  envies  other  people  who  seem  to  have  no 
loads  to  carry,  he  will  have  plenty  of  heartache,  and 
backache  too.  There  are  a  great  many  worse 
things  in  the  world  than  burden-bearing,  and  the 
people  who  shirk  the  tasks  which  properly  belong 
to  them  miss  the  sweetest  honey  that  heaven  has 
to  bestow.  Humboldt  said,  *'  It  is  quite  possible 
to  suffer  many  and  great  griefs,  and  yet  not  to  feel 
thoroughly  unhappy  in  consequence,  but  rather  to 
find  our  moral  and  intellectual  nature  so  purified 
and  exalted  thereby  that  v/e  would  not  change  this 
feeling  for  any  other."  That  was  certainly  the  ex- 
perience out  of  which  the  apostle  spoke  when  he 
said,  "  No  chastening  for  the  present  seemeth  to  be 
joyous,  but  grievous :  nevertheless  afterward  it 
yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness." 
Certainly  it  is  true  that  people  Vv^ho  live  in  the  easy- 
going valleys,  and  who  never  struggle  to  climb 
toward  the  mountain  heights,  and  who  seek  only 
to  have  their  own  ease  and  luxury,  are  never  the 
ones  to  make  the  world's  noble  history  or  find  the 
hidden  honey  which  is  to  feed  the  Vv^orld's  sorrows 
and  assuage  its  griefs.  I  would  to  God  we  might 
be  aroused  to  break  every  vulgar  chain  which  cramps 
and  fetters  us  and  holds  us  to  a  life  which  is  beneath 
us,  and  to  rise  up,  climbing  ever  toward  the 
heights,  to  possess  the  treasures  of  the  highlands 
which  are  our  rightful  inheritance  ! 

Paul  exultantly  exclaims  in  his  first  letter  to  the 
Corinthians :  ''AH  things  are  yours ;  whether  Paul, 
or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death, 
or  things  present,  or  things  to  come;  all  are  yours; 
and    ye    are   Christ's  ;  and   Christ    is    God's."     Dr. 


42  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Brooke  Herford,  of  London,  commenting  on  this, 
says  that  there  is  a  wholesome  exultation  about 
these  words  when  we  consider  from  whom  they 
came  and  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  We  do 
not  like  to  hear  a  rich  man  boasting  of  his  wealth  ; 
but  when  a  poor  man  tells  us  how  rich  he  feels,  that 
seems  wholesome  and  it  gives  us  a  glimpse  into  the 
deeper  fact  of  what  "  being  well-off"  really  is.  It  is 
not  what  you  can  carry  in  your  hand  or  pocket  or 
title  deeds  that  you  make  really  yours  ;  but  it  is 
what  you  take  into  your  mind  and  heart,  what  you 
know,  and  what  you  love.  That  which  you  carry 
in  your  fingers  you  can  carry  only  a  little  way;  and 
then  the  fingers  loosen,  your  grasp  relaxes,  and  it 
all  slips  from  you.  But  that  of  God's  great  world 
which  you  gather  into  the  mind  and  heart  does  not 
slip  away  ;  that  becomes  part  of  your  very  self  and 
goes  with  you  into  the  immortal  life  beyond.  This 
is  true  about  everything  that  we  try  to  possess. 

Shakespeare's  plays,  Emerson's  essays,  or  Tenny- 
son's poems  do  not  become  yours  by  your  owning 
handsome  copies  of  them,  but  by  reading  and  read- 
ing again  and  again  until  you  know  them  and  love 
them.  Beethoven  and  Mendelssohn  and  Mozart 
belong  to  those  who  love  and  understand  them. 
John  Ruskin  is  so  keenly  alive  to  the  truth  that 
only  knowledge  and  love  can  take  possession  of  the 
highest  treasures,  that  he  pleads  it  is  wrong  in  works 
of  art  to  claim  any  private  property  or  ownership. 
The  beauty,  the  great  thoughts,  that  which  gives 
the  marble  or  canvas  its  value — no  man  can  buy 
that  for  money ;  it  can  only  come  by  knowing  and 
loving,  by  looking  on  the  beauty  until  its  lines  grow 


THE  TREASURES  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS.  43 

into  the   mind,  by  entering   into  its  spirit  and  pos- 
sessing it  by  the  affections  of  the  heart. 

These  truths  need  to  be  greatly  emphasized  in 
this  rushing,  sordid  Hfe,  the  currents  of  which  whirl 
about  us  and  so  often  threaten  to  engulf  us.  We 
need  to  have  it  said  again  and  again,  with  increas- 
ing emphasis,  that  it  is  not  what  we  carry  in  our 
pockets  which  makes  us  most  truly  rich,  even  though 
it  be  gold  or  diamonds.  The  open  eye  to  see  the 
beauty  that  is  in  earth's  poorest  place ;  the  thought- 
ful mind  to  watch  the  world's  life  and  change  and 
growth  working  together ;  the  large  heart  to  look 
on  all  human  life  about  us  with  tender,  loving  sym- 
pathy, feeling  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  every  brother 
and  sister  of  our  humanity — these  things  are  what 
make  men  and  women  rich  and  strong  and  power- 
ful !  If  such  is  your  conception  of  life  and  such  the 
sublime  ambition  of  your  soul,  then  I  am  able  to  say 
with  Paul,  as  I  look  you  in  the  face,  ''  All  things 
are  yours  " — sunshine  and  storm  ;  the  flowers,  the 
white  robes  of  snow,  the  innumerable  stars,  the  sol- 
emn mountain  heights,  the  vast  domain  of  history, 
the  lofty  ideals  of  art  and  music  and  poetry,  the 
treasures  of  human  life  surrounding  us,  all  good  and 
wise  and  great  heroes  and  saints,  earth's  noblest 
uses,  heaven's  most  glorious  hopes,  things  present, 
things  to  come — yes,  all  are  yours  ;  "  and  ye  are 
Christ's ;  and  Christ  is  God's."  So  wrote  Paul  to 
his  audience,  and  so  may  I  speak  to  mine.  All  the 
good  things  of  the  universe  gather  about  God.  All 
that  is  most  earnest  and  noble  and  inspiring  in  our 
human  life  leads  us  upward  to  the  great  white 
throne.     The  honey  which  the  struggling  climber 


44  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

finds  in  the  cleft  rocks  of  earth  is  only  the  sweeter 
because  it  is  a  foretaste  and  a  pledge  of  still  more 
blessed  and  precious  joys  above. 

I  set  before  you  this  glorious  inheritance,  and 
seek  by  every  effort  within  my  power  to  inspire  you 
to  enter  in  and  possess  it. 

"  Two  men  toiled  side  by  side  from  sun  to  sun, 

And  both  were  poor  ; 
Both  sat  with  children,  when  the  day  was  done, 

About  their  door. 

"  One  saw  the  beautiful  in  crimson  cloud 

And  shining  moon  ; 
The  other,  with  his  head  in  sadness  bowed, 

Made  night  of  noon. 

"  One  loved  each  tree  and  flower  and  singing  bird 

On  mount  or  plain  ; 
No  music  in  the  soul  of  one  was  stirred 

By  leaf  or  rain. 

"  One  saw  the  good  in  every  fellow-man 

And  hoped  the  best ; 
The  other  marveled  at  his  Master's  plan, 

And  doubt  confessed. 

"  One  having  heaven  above  and  heaven  below. 

Was  satisfied  ; 
The  other,  discontented,  lived  in  woe, 

And  hopeless  died," 

I  caU  you  to  the  higher,  the  nobler,  life,  the  life 
which  is  possible  to  you  and,  therefore,  3/our  duty. 
As  Phillips  Brooks  grandly  says,  live  such  a  life 
that  if  every  life  was  like  yours  this  earth  would  be 
God's  paradise. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  HOPE  OF  IMMORTALITY.     45 


IV. 


THE   INSPIRATION  OF  THE  HOPE  OF  IMMOR- 
TALITY. 

"The  power  of  an  endless  life." — Heb.  vii,  i6. 

EASTER  comes  to  us  at  the  season  of  the  year 
when  all  nature  is  illustrating  before  our  admir- 
ing eyes  its  great  truth.  "  The  power  of  an  endless 
life  "  is  throbbing  to-day  in  the  black  stems  of  the 
naked  trees  along  our  streets  and  blushing  into 
promise  in  now  and  then  a  swollen  bud  ;  it  is  ting- 
ling with  encouragement  in  the  hidden,  buried  roots 
of  many  a  tiny  plant ;  it  is  sweUing  to  the  bursting  of 
hope  in  many  a  bulb  covered  all  the  winter  time 
with  the  black  earth.  And  out  of  the  decay  of  last 
year's  foliage  the  new  adventurer  is  springing  up  to 
bear  testimony  to  "  the  power  of  an  endless  life." 
As  another  has  said,  the  first  grass  blades  on  the 
graves  of  our  dead  wave  in  the  chill  April  wind 
with  a  gracious  suggestion  of  immortality.  All  that 
has  ever  been  said  about  the  victory  over  death  is 
not  so  convincing  as  one  blue-eyed  violet  shining 
out  of  its  heart-shaped  leaves.  The  softened  sky, 
the  kindlier  sun,  the  whole  teeming  earth,  full  of 
tender  brooding,  like  a  mother's  heart,  become  to  us 
a  gigantic,  but  beautiful,  symbol  of  an  endless  life. 
Surely  we  cannot  help  but   beHeve   in  a  time  like 

this  that  God  has  as  much  care  for  the  top  of  his 
4 


46  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

creation — for  the  children  made  in  his  own  likeness 
and  image,  to  whom  he  has  given  the  power  to 
reason,  to  worship,  to  love— as  he  shows  for  the 
pussy  willows  and  the  peony  bulbs.  I  believe,  with 
Dr.  Barrows,  that  "God  is  not  so  poor  a  house- 
keeper as  to  let  the  best  perish  and  the  poorest 
live.  He  has  made  his  world  like  a  vast  electric 
battery,  to  discharge  into  our  souls  faith  in  the 
hereafter — the  renewed  life." 

Not  only  the  roots  and  bulbs  and  swelling  buds 
speak  to  us  of  a  life  forever,  sustained  and  planned 
by  an  invisible  power  which  is  not  only  wise  but 
kind,  but  the  birds  that  come  to  us  from  the  South, 
some  staying  with  us,  like  the  bluebird  and  the 
robin,  but  others  tarrying  with  us  only  for  a  day  or 
shooting  by  us  in  the  twilight,  like  the  wild  geese 
and  ducks  seeking  the  far  North — all  these  speak  to 
us  of  the  endless  life  which  is  at  once  the  care  and 
the  inspiration  and  the  promise  of  our  immortality. 
Some  of  you  will  recall  William  Cullen  Bryant's 
poem  of  ''The  Water  Fowl."  It  is  full  of  the 
tenderest  teaching  of  our  theme  : 

"  Whither,  midst  falling  dew, 
While  glow  the  heavens  with  the  last  steps  of  day, 
Far,  through  their  rosy  depths,  dost  thou  pursue 

Thy  soHtary  way  ? 

"  Vainly  the  fowler's  eye 
Might  mark  thy  distant  flight  to  do  thee  wrong. 
As,  darkly  seen  against  the  crimson  sky. 

Thy  figure  floats  along. 

"  Seek'st  thou  the  plashy  brink 
Of  weedy  lake,  or  marge  of  river  wide. 
Or  where  the  rocking  billows  rise  and  sink 

On  the  chafed  ocean  side  ? 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  HOPE  OF  IMMORTALITY.     47 

"  There  is  a  Power  whose  care 
Teaches  thy  way  along  that  pathless  coast — 
The  desert  and  illimitable  air — 

Lone  wandering,  but  not  lost. 

"  All  day  thy  wings  have  fanned, 
At  that  far  height,  the  cold,  thin  atmosphere, 
Yet  stoop  not,  weary,  to  the  welcome  land. 

Though  the  dark  night  is  near. 

"  And  soon  that  toil  shall  end  ; 
Soon  shalt  thou  find  a  summer  home,  and  rest, 
And  scream  among  thy  fellows  ;  reeds  shall  bend, 

Soon,  o'er  thy  sheltered  nest. 

"  Thou'rt  gone,  the  abyss  of  heaven 
Hath  sv.'allowed  up  thy  form  ;  yet  on  my  heart 
Deeply  has  sunk  the  lesson  thou  hast  given. 

And  shall  not  soon  depart. 

"  He  who,  from  zone  to  zone, 
Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone 

Will  lead  my  steps  aright." 

The  God  who  has  given  instinct  to  the  water- 
fowl, to  guide  it  through  the  trackless  skies  from 
Florida  to  Labrador,  bringing  it  at  last  safely  to  its 
summer  home  and  rest,  may  be  trusted  to  care  for 
the  human  life  upon  which  he  has  so  richly  poured 
the  tenderness  of  his  love  : 

"  He  who,  from  zone  to  zone. 
Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone 

Will  lead  my  steps  aright." 

The  power  of  an  endless  life  is  illustrated  in  the 
nobility  of  purpose,  the  power  of  self-denial,  the 
breadth  and  elevation  of  soul  which  come  to  those 


48  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

who  are  inspired  by  it.  It  has  been  a  common 
thing  in  our  time  to  have  pointed  out  to  us,  with  a 
sneer  of  triumph,  that  many  people  who  are  not 
within  the  church,  and  who  make  no  confession  of 
faith  in  the  resurrected  Christ,  are  yet,  in  many 
ways,  models  of  noble  living,  and  have  hearts  broad 
and  generous  and,  sometimes,  abounding  in  philan- 
thropic spirit.  Those  making  these  statements  fail 
to  appreciate  the  fact  that  such  people,  while  they 
do  not  confess  it  and,  indeed,  in  many  cases  are 
doubtless  unconscious  of  it,  yet  owe  all  that  is 
noblest  and  grandest  in  their  character  to  the  in- 
spiration of  the  hope  of  immortality  which  was 
born  into  the  world  in  its  full  glory  in  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Right  Honorable  Arthur  James  Balfour,  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  English  House  of 
Commons,  in  his  recent  book  written  in  defense  of 
Christianity,  illustrates  by  a  very  graphic  picture 
the  debt  which  non-Christians  owe  to  the  atmos- 
phere which  has  been  created  by  the  divine  life  of 
Christianity  in  the  world.  He  says  that  biologists 
tell  us  of  parasites  which  live,  and  can  live  only, 
within  the  bodies  of  animals  more  highly  organized 
than  themselves.  For  them  their  luckless  host  has 
to  find  food,  to  digest  it,  and  to  convert  it  into  nour- 
ishment which  they  can  consume  without  exertion 
and  assimilate  without  difficulty.  Their  structure 
is  of  the  simplest  kind.  Their  host  sees  for  them, 
so  they  need  no  eyes ;  he  hears  for  them,  so  they 
need  no  ears ;  he  works  for  them,  so  they  need  but 
feeble  muscles  and  an  undeveloped  nervous  system. 
But,  says  the  brilliant   writer,  are  we  to  conclude 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  HOPE  OF  IMMORTALITY.     49 

from  this  that  for  the  animal  kingdom  eyes  and  ears, 
powerful  limbs  and  complex  nerves,  are  super- 
fluities? They  are  superfluities  for  the  parasites 
only  because  they  have  first  been  necessities  for  the 
host ;  and  if  the  host  perishes  the  parasites  will  per- 
ish also.  So  it  is  true  that  there  are  multitudes  of 
people  to-day  who  are  living  lives  of  morality  and 
public  spirit  and  are  valuable  citizens  to  the  com- 
munity, but  who  sneer  at  church  creeds  and  have 
a  sort  of  lofty  contempt  for  clearly  defined  Christian 
faith,  whose  ethical  and  spiritual  life,  such  as  it 
is,  has  all  been  drawn  from  the  very  institutions 
which  they  deride.  Everything  that  is  noble  and 
grand  in  their  thoughts,  in  their  emotions,  in  their 
character,  they  owe  to  the  spiritual  climate  created 
by  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  which  has  shone  on 
the  world  through  the  Bible  and  the  church  and 
the  testimony  of  faithful  and  devoted  souls. 

The  power  of  an  endless  life  is  illustrated  in  the 
courage  which  comes  to  those  who  are  inspired  by 
it.  It  has  been  said  many  times  that  the  sublimest 
proof  of  the  reality  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  was  the  signal  transformation  it  wrought  in 
the  character  of  the  disciples.  They  had  been  a 
timid,  fearful,  unreliable  group  of  men  before  the 
resurrection  ;  but  afterward  their  devotion  became 
the  marvel  of  the  age,  and  not  a  single  one  failed  to 
seal  his  fidelity  with  his  death.  In  the  light  of  the 
resurrection  of  their  Master  they  lost  their  fear  of 
death.  Death  was  henceforth  an  overthrown  enemy. 
The  shadows  might  be  dark  at  the  entrance  on  the 
earthly  side,  but  it  issued  into  glory  beyond.  They 
believed,  as  Whittier  so  long  after  sung, 


50  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

"  That  Life  is  ever  Lord  of  death, 
And  Love  can  never  lose  its  own  " — 

"  That  death  seems  but  a  covered  way, 
Which  opens  into  Hght." 

And  each  of  them  realized  in  himself  a  personah'ty 
which  fulfilled  Browning's  noble  lines, 

"  One  who  never  turned  his  back,  but  marched  breast  forward, 

Never  doubted  clouds  would  break. 
Never  dreamed,    though   right   were   worsted,  wrong  would 

triumph. 
Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better. 
Sleep  to  wake." 

It  is  impossible  that  one  should  be  truly  inspired 
with  the  hope  of  immortality  and  not  gain  courage 
by  it.  It  is  impossible  to  realize  that  there  is  throb- 
bing in  our  veins  an  endless  life,  that  we  are  to 
have  all  eternity  in  which  to  develop  the  highest 
nature  and  fulfill  the  holiest  purposes,  without  be- 
ing in  some  true  and  high  sense  freed  from  the 
slavery  of  low  and  vulgar  things.  The  chains  of 
worldlinesshang  loosely  about  him  who  lives  in  the 
consciousness  that  he  is  pluming  his  wings  for  an 
everlasting  flight. 

There  ought  to  be  such  a  revival  of  courage  in 
our  own  hearts  in  the  presence  of  our  great  Easter 
truth  that  it  shall  make  us  brave  to  attack  any  diffi- 
culty that  stands  in  our  way.  As  common  men 
come  to  be  heroes  on  the  battlefield,  where  the  in- 
spiration to  heroism  is  on  every  side  and  victory  is 
breathed  on  the  air,  so  on  this  Easter  day,  when  we 
stand  in  the  presence  of  the  victory  of  life  over 
death,  we  ought  to  gain  courage  to  attack  every 
evil  habit  or  vicious  appetite  or  besetting  sin  and, 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  HOPE  OF  IMMORTALITY.     51 

in  the  strength  and  power  of  an  endless  Hfe,  trample 
it  under  foot  forever.  As  Phillips  Brooks  once  said  : 
"  This  is  a  day  for  strong  and  cheerful  resolutions, 
because  it  is  a  day  when,  with  the  spiritual  world 
open  before  us,  we  can  all  catch  sight  of  the  destiny 
of  duty — of  how  some  time  or  other  every  good 
habit  is  to  conquer  and  every  good  deed  wear  its 
crown.  Come,  take  that  task  of  yours,  over  which 
you  have  been  hesitating  before,  and  shirking  and 
walking  around  and  around,  and  on  this  Easter  day 
lift  it  up  and  do  it.  It  is  your  duty.  That  which 
sounds  hard  and  cold  on  other  days  ought  to  sound 
warm  and  inspiring  to-day.  For  to-day  we  can  see 
that  duty  is  worth  while.  Duty  is  the  one  thing  on 
earth  that  is  so  vital  that  it  can  go  through  death 
and  come  to  glory.  Duty  is  the  one  seed  that  has 
such  life  in  it  that  it  can  lie  as  long  as  God  wills  in 
the  mummy  hand  of  death,  and  yet  be  ready  any 
moment  to  start  into  new  growth  in  the  new  soil 
where  he  shall  set  it.  So  let  us  all  consecrate  our 
Easter  day  by  resolutely  taking  up  some  new  duty 
which  we  know  we  ought  to  do.  We  bind  ourselves 
so  by  a  new  chain  to  eternity,  to  the  eternity  of  Him 
who,  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  endured 
the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  is  set  down  at 
God's  right  hand." 

On  such  a  day  as  this  one  ought  to  have  courage 
enough  to  do  that  hardest  thing — go  on  living  a 
life  of  patient  waiting,  seeing  but  little  result,  con- 
scious of  many  hindrances,  of  many  chains  of  cir- 
cumstance which  bind  and  limit  the  daily  action 
into  narrow  grooves.  We  ought  to  have  courage  to 
go  on  doing  our  duty  in  the  simplest  things  and  in 


52  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

the  commonest  ways  with  a  noble  spirit,  knowing 
that  God  shall  bring  good  and  blessing  out  of  it  all 
and  make  that  which  seems  very  little  to  us  of 
larger  and  wider  benefaction  than  we  can  dream.  I 
do  not  doubt  there  are  many  quiet,  patient  souls  in 
this  congregation  who  feel  bound  to  a  very  narrow 
round  of  duty.  You  think,  when  you  come  to  add 
up  the  service  which  you  are  able  to  give  to  Christ 
and  to  humanity,  that  the  total  seems  very  small. 
Easter  morning  ought  to  mean  much  to  you  ;  for 
God  has  so  ordered  the  world  that  its  sweetest  fra- 
grance is  breathed  from  smallest  flowers,  and  its 
most  precious  stones  are  those  which  are  the  con- 
centrated result  of  hidden  and  unseen  influences. 
Some  one  sings  a  song  which  I  wish  to  repeat  for 
the  benefit  of  any  who  have  longed  for  a  wider 
sphere,  but  whom  God's  providence  has  chained  to 
quiet  and  hidden  service.  It  is  the  song  of  "A  Rose 
Jar:" 

"  I  remember  in  my  childhood,  in  a  quaint,  old-fashioned  room, 
A  rose  jar,  flushed  with  crimson,  hke  the  colors  of  the  dawn  ; 

It  stood  upon  a  little  shelf,  filled  full  to  odorous  brim 

With  roses  that  had  blossomed  in   the  summers  past  and 
gone. 

"  O,  what  a  charm  swept  o'er  me  when,  sometimes,  sitting  there, 
I  held  the  jar  in   careful   hands  and  breathed  its  fragrant 
scent ; 

I  heard  the  bees  go  humming,  and  I  felt  the  breezes  blow, 
I  saw  the  river  flowing  where  the  drooping  willow  bent. 

"  Sweet  friend,  you  say  the  roses  that  bloomed  for  you  are  dead, 
You  only  have  the  withered  leaves  to  hold  within  your  heart ; 

The  summer's  warmth  has  gone,  and  the  golden  sunshine  fled, 
And  the  snows  of  cruel  winter  their  blasting  chill  impart. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  HOPE  OF  IMMORTALITY.     53 

"  I  only  know  that,  now  and  then,  your  heart  has  stood  ajar. 
And  thoughts,  like  perfume  sweet  and  rare,  across  my  soul 
have  swept ; 
Dear  thoughts — like  summer    blossoms,  swift   thoughts — Hke 
eager  birds, 
Shy  thoughts — like  blue-eyed  violets,  where  summer  show- 
ers have  wept. 

"  Then   keep   the  withered  rose  leaves,  preserve  them  in  your 
heart ; 
Their  perfume  blesses  other  lives  with  thoughts  of   summer 
hours. 
And  friend,  dear  friend,  though  winter's  snow  lies  white  and 
chill  to-day. 
Yet,  after  winter  comes  the  May,  and  springtime  brings  the 
flowers." 

The  power  of  an  endless  life  is  shown  more  ten- 
derly and  beautifully  than  anywhere  else  in  the  com- 
fort which  it  brings  to  sorrowing  hearts  and  the 
hope  which  it  inspires  within  us  of  a  precious  reunion 
with  our  loved  ones.  I  could  not  keep  back  the 
tears  this  week  when  I  opened  the  Alichiga7i  Chris- 
tian Advocate  and  saw,  in  the  first  lines  of  the  edi- 
torial page,  the  cry  of  the  soul  of  the  editor,  whose 
only  child  was  taken  away  by  death  during  the  past 
month.  These  were  the  words :  "  Never  before  was 
our  Easter  hope  brighter  or  more  comforting. 
Never  before  had  we  greater  reason  to  rejoice  in  the 
doctrine  of  a  resurrection,  nor  to  thank  God  for  the 
evidences  that  it  is  true.  The  dead  shall  live  again. 
We  shall  see  them.  We  shall  be  with  them.  Our 
reunion  shall  be  eternal."  Going  on  to  speak  about 
his  own  personal  loss,  he  says,  ^'^  We  wept  for  him. 
We  are  weeping  still. 


54  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

" '  Yet  'tis  sweet  balm  to  our  despair, 

Fond,  fairest  boy. 
That  heaven  is  God's,  and  thou  art  there 

With  him  in  joy  ; 
There  past  are  death  and  all  its  woes  ; 
There  beauty's  stream  forever  flows ; 
And  pleasure's  day  no  sunset  knows." 

*'  We  think  of  him,"  says  the  fond  father,  "  as  now 
with  his  brother,  who  died  sixteen  years  before 
him.  Surely  the  tender  Shepherd  has  brought 
them  together.  They  are  happier  than  we  could 
make  them,  and  we  shall  be  happier  when  restored 
to  them  than  we  ever  could  have  been  had  they 
not  been  given  to  us.     Of  each  of  them  we  can  say, 

"  '  He  lives.     In  all  the  past 

He  lives  ;  nor,  to  the  last, 
Of  seeing  him  again  will  I  despair  ; 

In  dreams  I  see  him  now. 

And  on  his  angel  brow 
I  see  it  written,  "  Thou  shalt  meet  me  there  !  "  '  " 

I  am  sure  that  to  every  one  of  us  this  morning 
this  Easter  day  is  not  without  some  message  of 
comfort  and  hope.  To  some  of  us  there  are  groups 
of  loved  ones  who  stand  about  us  this  day,  and  we 
hold  communion  and  fellowship  with  them  again 
as  we  do  not  on  other  days.  Some  who  went 
home  long  ago  come  back  and  look  in  our  faces  with 
loving  eyes  at  Easter  time  ;  and  some  there  are  who 
only  last  Easter  time  were  with  us,  and  who  are 
having  their  first  Easter  feast  in  heaven.  How 
near  they  seem  to  us  to-day  !  Bless  God,  it  is  not 
all  seeming — they  are  near  to  us. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  HOPE  OF  IMMORTALITY.     55 

"  O  home  land  !     O  home  land  ! 

The  veil  is  very  thin 
That  stretches  thy  dear  meadows 

And  this  cold  world  between  ; 
A  breath  aside  may  blow  it, 

A  heart  throb  burst  it  through, 
And  bring  in  one  glad  moment 

Thy  happy  lands  to  view. 

"  O  home  land  !     O  home  land  ! 

One — Chief  of  all  thy  band, 
One — altogether  lovely, 

One — Lord  of  all  the  land, 
Stands,  eager,  at  the  gateway  ; 

The  Bridegroom  waits  his  bride  ; 
And,  resting  on  his  bosom, 

I  shall  be  satisfied." 


56  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


V. 

THE  VITAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN 
LIFE. 

"  Let  this  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus." — Phil,  ii,  5, 

IT  is  the  supreme  glory  of  our  Christianity  that  it 
demands  of  us  our  best.  It  is  never  satisfied 
with  any  low  standard.  It  sets  before  us  the  loftiest 
ideal  that  the  human  mind  can  conceive  of,  and  de- 
mands that  our  eyes  shall  be  fixed  upon  that  mark 
as  "  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus."  I  once  heard  Phillips  Brooks  deliver  a  ser- 
mon, Avhich  I  think  has  never  been  printed,  on 
Christ's  words  to  the  young  ruler  as  they  are  re- 
corded in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew's 
gospel,  "  Jesus  said  unto  him,  If  thou  wilt  be  per- 
fect, go  and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the 
poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  ;  and 
come  and  follow  me."  The  theme  was  perfection. 
The  great  preacher  said  that  Jesus  had  answered 
the  young  man's  question  in  an  ordinary  way  and 
would  have  let  him  go.  But  this  young  man  had 
great  aspirations.  He  wanted  to  be  better  than  the 
average.  So  Jesus  turns  to  him  and  says,  "  If  thou 
wilt  be  perfect — that  is  another  matter  altogether," 
and  marks  out  the  way.  It  was  like  some  great, 
strong  man  who  sets  out  to  climb  a  lofty  eminence 
with  a  group  of  eager  boys.     They  ascend  to  the 


VITAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.       57 

first  good  view,  and  most  of  them  are  satisfied.  But 
in  the  eyes  of  one  or  two  he  sees  the  gleaming  of 
a  nobler  light,  and  they  exclaim,  "  We  must  go 
higher;  lead  us  onward,  take  us  to  yon  snow-white 
summit  amid  the  clouds  !  "  And  the  leader  says, 
''  Very  well.  If  that  is  what  you  mean  you  must 
throw  off  your  burdens  and  leave  behind  all  useless 
luggage  and  come  and  follow  me."  Christ's  whole 
life  was  a  summons  to  manhood  and  womanhood  to 
climb  upward  to  perfection.  This  upward  climbing 
brings  us  face  to  face  with  God.  The  reason  some 
people  do  not  believe  in  God  is  not  because  they  are 
so  broad  and  liberal  and  great,  but  because  their 
lives  are  so  httle,  so  narro\v  and  earthly,  that  they 
seem  to  have  no  need  of  God.  When  we  broaden 
our  lives  and  undertake  some  noble  work  worthy  for 
men  and  women  to  do  we  come  face  to  face  with 
God  and  our  great  need  of  him. 

I  think  no  one  can  study  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ 
without  being  impressed  with  the  fact  that  it  is  not 
the  individual  miracles  which  he  wrought  and  the 
great  things  which  he  did  which  have  moved  the  heart 
of  mankind,  so  much  as  the  great  spirit  in  which 
he  did  everything.  You  never  feel  in  studying  the 
life  of  Jesus  that  on  any  occasion  he  is  summoning 
all  his  powers  to  meet  some  great  emergency.  All 
life  was  great  to  him.  The  commonest  Avayside 
conversation  brought  out  clearly  his  divine  insight, 
his  wealth  of  resources,  and  the  gentle  sweetness 
of  his  nature.  All  this  revealed  the  spiritual  at- 
mosphere in  which  he  lived.  It  is  this  vital  atmos- 
phere of  a  Christian  life  which  it  is  important  for 
us  to  attain — not  to  be  waiting  for  great  opportuni- 


58  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

ties  to  accomplish  great  deeds,  but  to  live  always 
in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  so  that  everyday  experiences 
shall  be  clothed  upon  from  heaven. 

The  Christian  spirit  ought  to  attune  us  to  every- 
day life  in  the  same  way  the  poetic  spirit  attuned 
the  soul  of  Whittier,  the  Quaker  poet,  to  the  sights 
and  sounds  and  harmonies  of  nature.  Of  him  it 
was  aptly  said  that  while  he  was  waging  war  with 
giant  wrongs  he  "  heard  the  fitful  music  still,  of 
\^'inds  that  out  of  dreamland  blew :  " 

"  The  common  air  was  thick  with  dreams  ; 

He  told  them  to  the  toiling  crowd  ; 
Such  music  as  the  woods  and  streams 

Sang  in  his  ear,  he  sang  aloud  ; 
In  still,  shut  bays,  on  windy  capes. 
He  heard  the  call  of  beckoning  shapes  ; 
And  as  the  gray  old  shadows  prompted  him. 
To  homely  molds  of  rhyme  he  shaped  their  legends  grim." 

All  nature  was  full  of  romance  and  poetry  to  him. 
He  clung  to  the  things  of  nature  almost  as  he  did 
to  human  friends.  Once  he  said  :  *'  I  am  very  thank- 
ful that  I  can  almost  forget  age  and  infirmity  in  the 
contemplation  of  these  lovely  dawns  and  sunsets 
and  these  still,  warm,  pictureful  noons.  Shall  we 
have  them,  or  their  like,  in  the  new  life  ?  If  not,  I, 
for  one,  must  miss  them  sadly.  But  His  will  be 
done."  Again,  in  a  June  letter  of  the  year  he  died  : 
''  It  seems  to  me  the  world  was  never  so  beautiful 
as  now,  when  I  am  about  to  leave  it.  But  the  future 
life  will  more  than  compensate."  The  result  of  this 
harmony  of  soul  between  the  poet  and  nature,  this 
poetic  coloring  of  insight,  is  seen  in  a  large  number 
of  his  poems,  such  as  "  The  Last  "Walk  in  Autumn," 


VITAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.        59 

*'The  Barefoot  Boy,"  ''Telling  the  Bees,"  "The 
Tent  on  the  Beach,"  "  Maud  Muller,"  "  Snow-Bound," 
and  many  others,  which  are  full  of  beauty  and  which 
we  have  long  since  taken  into  our  hearts.  The 
thought  which  above  all  else  I  wish  to  impress  upon 
you  from  our  study  is  that,  in  a  still  higher  and  holier 
way,  it  is  possible  for  us  so  to  live  in  the  spirit  of 
Christ  that  our  everyday  life  shall  be  glorified  by  it, 
and  what  are  only  hard,  barren  experiences  to  the 
dull  eyes  of  worldlings  shall  to  more  clear  spiritual 
insight  unfold  visions  of  beauty  and  blessing. 

Let  us  study  for  a  little  some  of  the  characteris- 
tics of  the  Christian  atmosphere.  First  of  all,  it  is 
a  joyous,  hopeful  spirit.  Paul,  who  certainly  had 
his  share  of  the  buffetings  and  struggles  of  the  Chris- 
tian life,  found  it  to  be  a  life  of  abounding  joy  and 
ever  buoyant  hope.  Farther  on  in  this  same  letter  he 
exclaims :  "  If  I  be  offered  upon  the  sacrifice  and  serv- 
ice of  your  faith,  I  joy,  and  rejoice  with  you  all.  For 
the  same  cause  also  do  ye  joy,  and  rejoice  with  me." 
Christianity  is  the  joy-bringer  to  the  world.  The 
evening  before  his  sudden  death  in  Samoa  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson,  the  brilliant  poet-novelist,  read 
aloud  to  his  family  a  prayer  that  he  had  composed, 
which  closes  with  this  petition :  "  Go  with  each  of 
us  to  rest.  If  any  wake,  temper  to  them  the  dark 
hours  of  watching;  and  when  the  day  returns  to  us, 
our  Sun  and  Comforter,  call  us  with  morning  faces 
and  with  morning  hearts,  eager  to  labor,  eager  to  be 
happy  if  happiness  shall  be  our  portion,  and,  if  the 
day  be  marked  to  sorrow,  strong  to  endure  it."  The 
London  Spectator  declares  that  this  is  more  im- 
pressive than  anything  else  which  that  man  of  genius 


60  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

produced.  The  desire  that  God  would  make  him 
and  his  '*  eager  to  be  happy,"  and  the  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  strength  and  patience  in  trouble 
have  intimate  connection  with  our  capacity  for  joy, 
were  born  of  a  genuine  spiritual  insight. 

Christianity  is  a  religion  of  hope.  No  man  can 
despair  of  the  human  race  who  suns  himself  in  the 
sublime  optimism  of  Jesus  Christ.  Every  such  a 
one  can  sing  with  Zangwill : 

"  For  all  men  hope,  despair  of  none! 
Foul  vapors  flee  the  golden  sun ; 
The  darkest  puddle  draws  on  high 
To  paint  the  sky  with  harmony  : 
So  love  shall  lift  to  higher  goals 
The  lowest  lives,  the  darkest  souls. 
Rejoice  we,  then,  of  one  thing  sure — 
We  pass,  but  deeds  of  love  endure." 

There  are  enough  Christians  in  the  world  to  speed- 
ily transform  it  if  we  all  lived  in  that  atmosphere 
of  faith  and  hope  which  characterized  Jesus  Christ. 
General  Booth,  of  the  Salvation  Army,  has  proved 
by  his  farming  experiment  at  Hadleigh,  near  Lon- 
don, that  what  seemed  to  be  worthless  and  despair- 
ing tramps  have,  under  the  magical  inspiration  of 
Christian  hope,  become  industrious  and  honest.  Of 
the  two  hundred  first  sent  out  from  the  slums  of 
London,  only  forty  failed  ;  that  is,  four  fifths  became 
self-supporting  citizens.  When  he  undertook  the 
work  the  superintendent  of  police  in  the  neighbor- 
hood and  the  governor  of  Dartmoor  Convict  Prison 
both  warned  him  that  he  would  have  grave  dif- 
ficulties with  so  many  men,  some  of  whom  were 
ticket  of  leave  men  ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  there 


VITAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.        61 

has  been  no  difficulty  whatever.  Christian  kindness 
and  firmness  have  breathed  an  atmosphere  of  joyous 
hope  into  these  weary  hearts,  triumphed  over  their 
despair,  and  Hfted  them  into  a  new  Hfe. 

This  spirit  of  the  Christ  is  a  gentle  spirit,  broth- 
erly and  childlike.  The  gentleness  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  a  characteristic  which  distinguishes  him,  perhaps 
as  much  as  does  his  purity  of  character,  from  other 
men  who  have  been  mighty  forces  in  the  world's 
history.  And  the  individual  Christian  among  us 
to-day  may  be  sure  that  there  is  no  grace  of  char- 
acter which  he  can  cultivate  that  will  be  of  more  im- 
pressive force  for  good  than  that  of  gentleness. 
Perhaps  there  is  no  place  where  this  grace  will  be 
more  effective  in  bringing  about  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth  than  in  our  homes.  As  one  has  well 
said,  if  there  is  any  place  on  earth  where  we  should 
be  uniformly  at  our  best  behavior,  that  place  is  home. 
There  we  find  the  best  market  for  our  most  complete 
stock  of  all  '*  the  things  which  make  for  peace ;  " 
and  we  ought  to  keep  a  full  line  of  that  class  of 
goods,  and  display  and  serve  them  to  the  best  pos- 
sible effect.  Our  homes  are  where  we  really  live 
and  where  we  can  least  afford  to  impose  or  to  be  im- 
posed upon.  We  may  resort  to  our  philosophy  and 
make  the  best  of  bad  bargains  in  other  directions 
and  departments,  but  for  home  failure  there  can  be 
no  compensations.  It  is  the  worst  species  of  heart 
failure.  There  are  some  people  who  put  on  their 
best  manners,  as  they  do  their  best  clothes,  when 
they  go  visiting;  but  you  never  would  know  them 
if  you  could  see  them  in  undress   uniform  at  home. 

Many  people  who   are  very  impressive  abroad  are 
5 


62  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

very  oppressive  at  home.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  used 
to  say :  ''  Some  men  have  the  same  conception  of 
home  that  a  certain  domestic  animal  has  of  its  pen. 
It  is  the  place  to  eat  and  sleep  and  grunt  in."  And 
I  am  afraid  he  might  have  said  just  as  truthfully  that 
some  women  use  the  home  as  the  place  for  target 
practice,  in  the  way  of  scolding  and  fretting.  Fret- 
ting is  a  sort  of  female  profanity.  I  have  good  au- 
thority for  that,  for  John  Wesley  used  to  say  that 
he  "would  as  soon  swear  as  fret  and  worry."  I  be- 
lieve the  good  old  man  was  right.  Vulgar  and  wicked 
as  profanity  is,  I  doubt  if  it  does  as  much  harm  as 
constant  fretfulness  and  nagging  on  the  part  of 
men  and  women  in  home  life.  The  gentle  spirit  of 
the  Christ  which  restrains  the  hot  temper,  cleanses 
away  the  selfishness,  leading  us  to  bear  and  for- 
bear, putting  ourselves  in  our  brother's  place, 
looking  not  mostly  on  our  own  things,  but  on  the 
things  of  others — that  spirit  it  is  which  makes  the 
home  like  the  heaven  of  which  it  is  the  promise  and 
the  foretaste. 

The  Christian  spirit  is  the  child's  spirit,  which  is 
always  ignorant  of  caste  and  class  and  bubbling  over 
with  the  gentleness  and  kindness  which  is  its  inher- 
itance. Here  is  a  little  incident  which  occurred  the 
other  day  and  was  related  in  one  of  our  Brooklyn 
papers.  A  car  was  crossing  the  city  when  a  very 
young  mother,  with  her  little  two-year-old  baby,  got 
into  it.  The  little  girl  was  just  beginning  to  talk. 
She  looked  long  and  earnestly  at  an  old  woman, 
dirty,  scowling,  and  repulsive,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  car.  The  child  looked  so  earnestly  at  the  old 
woman  that  the  mother  thought  that,  perhaps,  that 


VITAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.       63 

was  the  reason  why  the  old  woman  was  scowling, 
and  she  tried  to  attract  the  little  girl's  attention  ; 
but  it  was  useless.  The  big,  blue  eyes  were  not  re- 
moved from  the  face  of  the  old  woman.  At  last  the 
little  girl  became  so  restless  that  the  mother  stood 
her  on  her  feet  by  her  knee,  when  the  child,  with  a 
quick  step  and  outstretched  arms,  threw  herself 
against  the  scowling  old  woman  and  said,  in  her 
sweet  baby  tones,  ''  I  dot  dranma  home ;  me  loves 
dranmas."  The  old  woman  was  so  startled  at  this 
unexpected  display  of  affection  and  interest  that  her 
eyes  filled  with  tears,  and,  putting  one  hand  on  the 
child's  shoulder,  she  pushed  her  gently  from  her 
knee  and  said,  ''  I  am  not  fit  fer  yez  to  touch,  child, 
ye're  so  sweet  and  pretty."  But  the  baby,  with  that 
clear  look  of  innocence  that  is  so  startling  in  some 
children,  pushed  away  the  detaining  hand  and  again 
leaned  heavily  against  the  old  woman.  This  time, 
putting  her  elbow  on  the  old  woman's  knee  and  her 
chin  on  her  hand,  she  gazed  with  the  most  be- 
witching smile  into  the  old  woman's  face,  murmur- 
ing again,  "  I  loves  dranmas."  The  tears  overflowed 
and  trickled  down  the  cheeks  of  the  old  woman,  and 
there  was  not  a  dry  eye  in  the  car.  The  little 
mother,  with  rare  wisdom,  let  the  angel  of  mercy 
alone,  and  there  the  child  stood,  smiling  her  friend- 
liness into  the  face  of  the  woman  to  whom  gentle- 
ness and  kindness  were  evidently  so  great  strangers. 
If  we  shall  cultivate  this  precious  grace  of  the  spirit, 
what  v/ould  otherwise  be  the  hard  experiences  of 
life  will  become  tools  in  the  hand  of  the  great 
Sculptor  to  fashion  us  into  the  divine  image. 
Bessie  Chandler  sings  of  such  a  life  story : 


64  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

"  Scant  beauty  Nature  gave  her  ;  in  disguise 
Rugged  and  harsh  she  bade  her  go  about 

With  face  unlovely,  save  the  dark,  sad  eyes, 

From  which  her  fearless  soul  looked  bravely  out. 

"  But  Life  took  up  the  chisel,  used  her  face 

Roughly,  with  many  blows,  as  sculptors  use  a  block ; 

It  wrought  a  little  while,  and,  lo,  a  grace 
Fell,  as  a  sunbeam  falls  upon  a  rock. 

"  Across  her  soul  a  heavy  sorrow  swept. 

As  tidal  waves  sweep  sometimes  o'er  the  land. 

Leaving  her  face,  when  back  it  ebbed  and  crept, 
Tranquil  and  purified,  like  tide-washed  sand. 

"  And  of  her  face  her  gentleness  grew  part. 

And  all  her  holy  thoughts  left  there  their  trace  ; 

A  great  love  found  its  way  within  her  heart — 
Its  root  was  there,  its  blossom  in  her  face. 

"  So  when  Death  came  to  set  the  sweet  soul  free 

From  the  poor  body  that  was  never  fair, 
We  watched  her  face,  and  marveled  much  to  see 

How  Life  had  carved  for  Death  an  angel  there." 

The  Christian  spirit  is  a  triumphant  spirit.  The 
true  Christian  ought  to  live  in  the  spirit  of  Paul 
when  he  exclaims,  "  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be 
against  us  ? "  Do  you  remember  the  story  of 
Amaziah,  the  King  of  Judah,  which  is  related  to  us 
in  the  second  Book  of  Chronicles?  Amaziah  had 
entered  into  a  wicked  league  with  idolaters.  From 
principles  of  worldly  policy  he  had  entered  into  an 
unholy  alliance  with  the  enemies  of  God.  Then  the 
prophet  came  to  him  with  this  message :  '*  O  king^ 
let  not  the  army  of  Israel  go  with  thee ;  for  the 
Lord  is  not  with  Israel."  Amaziah  was  in  great 
perplexity  what  to  do.     He  had  already  paid  out  of 


VITAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.        65 

his  treasury  a  large  sum  of  money  for  this  promised 
help,  and  now  if  he  broke  the  compact  he  would 
lose  it  all.  But  the  prophet  said  to  him  :  **  The 
Lord  is  able  to  give  thee  much  more  than  this." 
Amaziah  at  last  yielded  to  the  voice  of  warning  and 
promise,  sent  his  idolatrous  allies  away,  and  ob- 
tained a  signal  victory  as  the  result.  Christian 
friends,  let  us  learn  this  significant  lesson.  We  fail 
of  many  a  victory  because  our  allies  are  of  such 
a  character  that  God  cannot  bless  them.  The 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  may  promise  much  in 
comfort  and  pleasure  ;  but  let  us  listen  to  the  voice 
of  God's  prophet,  "  The  Lord  is  able  to  give  thee 
much  more  than  this."  We  are  never  so  strong  as 
when,  free  from  all  entangling  alliances  and  all  com- 
promises with  the  world,  we  are  living  in  genuine 
loyalty  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Then  it  is  we  are 
able  to  claim  the  promise  that  we  shall  be  *'  more  than 
conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us." 

If  you  ask  me  how,  above  all  else,  you  may  come 
to  breathe  this  vital  atmosphere,  I  answer,  Make 
much  of  the  Bible  and  much  of  prayer.  An  impa- 
tient man  will  find  no  better  companion  for  quiet 
conversations  than  Job.  The  man  who  is  tempted 
to  take  the  bit  between  his  teeth  and  rule  or  ruin 
will  do  well  to  get  intimately  acquainted  with  Moses. 
He  whose  knees  are  weak  and  who  finds  it  hard  to 
muster  up  his  courage  to  the  level  of  his  convictions 
will  be  greatly  benefited  by  a  desert  journey  with 
Elijah.  The  man  who  is  cast  down  and  always 
looking  on  the  dark  side  of  things  will  be  cheered 
and  improved  if  he  take  some  lessons  on  the  harp 
of  thanksfjivine  with    David    for  a    teacher.     The 


66  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

brother  who  is  trying  to  carry  water  on  both  shoul- 
ders can  have  no  better  diet  than  to  eat  pulse  awhile 
with  Daniel.  If  your  love  for  the  Saviour  is  getting 
cold  spend  a  few  evenings  around  those  warm 
heart-fires  in  St.  John's  gospel.  If  your  fears  are 
getting  the  better  of  your  faith  take  a  sea  voyage 
with  Paul.  If  you  are  becoming  worldly,  until  the 
things  of  the  earth  seem  noisily  near  and  the  un- 
seen and  spiritual  verities  dim  and  vague,  go  climb 
up  with  John  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  up  to  some 
hilltop  in  the  isle  of  Patmos,  until  you  catch  a 
glimpse  of  ''the  city  of  God."  If  you  thus  live  in 
fellowship  with  these  great  souls  you  will  come  to 
know  that  the  very  best  things  that  can  come  to  any 
child  of  God  are  included  in  your  inheritance. 

As  Phillips  Brooks  so  grandly  says,  when  the  spring 
comes  the  oak  tree,  with  its  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  leaves,  blossoms  all  over.  The  great  heart 
of  the  tree  remembers  every  remotest  tip  of  every 
farthest  branch,  and  sends  to  each  the  message  and 
the  power  of  new  life.  And  yet  we  do  not  think  of 
the  heart  of  the  oak  tree  as  if  it  were  burdened  with 
such  multitudinous  remembrance.  It  is  simply  the 
thrill  of  the  common  life  translated  into  these  mil- 
lion forms.  Somewhat  in  that  way  we  may  think 
of  God's  remembrance  of  his  million  children.  The 
patient  sufferer,  the  toilsome  worker,  are  far-off 
leaves  on  the  great  tree  of  his  life — far-off,  and  yet  as 
near  to  the  beating  of  his  heart  as  any  leaf  on  all 
the  tree.  He  remembers  them  as  truly  as  the  heart 
remembers  the  finger  tips  to  which  it  sends  the 
blood.  I  pray  God  that  out  of  all  this  reviving 
nature  about  us  you  may  catch  this  gospel  of  hope 


VITAL  ATMOSPHERE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.       67 

and  inspiration  !  You  may  be  sure,  if  any  doubt  or 
fear  or  sin  in  your  heart  is  hindering  the  free  flow 
of  divine  hfe  in  your  soul,  that  neither  doubt  nor 
sin  has  separated  you  from  his  tender  seeking,  that 
with  divine  tenderness  he  is  waiting  and  seeking  to 
break  down  your  doubt,  to  turn  you  away  from  your 
sin,  and  that  whenever  the  path  is  open  the  pulsing 
lifeblood  of  heaven  will  fill  your  soul  with  a  glow  of 
the  divine  nature.  I  call  you  to  your  high  and  noble 
inheritance  ! 


68  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


VI. 
THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  THE  SOUL. 

"  The  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will  send 
in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your 
remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you." — John  xiv,  26. 

"  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance." — Gal.  v,  22,  23. 

"  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  :  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would 
have  told  you.     I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you." — John  xiv,  2. 

THESE  three  scriptures  are  three  golden  Hnks  in 
a  chain  which  reaches  through  the  childhood 
of  the  soul  up  to  its  everlasting  triumph,  from  the 
beginning  of  school  time  to  the  crowning  day  on 
high.  The  first,  as  I  have  given  them  to  you,  was 
spoken  by  Jesus  to  comfort  his  disciples  on  his  go- 
ing away  from  them.  They  were  naturally  greatly 
perplexed  about  their  future.  No  doubt  they  all 
felt,  as  Peter  expressed  it,  '^  Lord,  why  cannot  I 
follow  thee  now?  "  But  the  Saviour  opens  up  to 
them  a  life  of  preparation  for  a  high  and  lofty  des- 
tiny. The  Comforter,  which  he  declares  to  be  the 
Holy  Ghost,  will  come  to  them  and  will  be,  not  only 
a  Comforter,  but  a  Teacher — *'  He  shall  teach  you 
all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance, 
whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you."  Then,  if  we  turn 
a  leaf  in  history  and  listen  to  Paul's  letter  to  the  Ga- 
latians,  where,  as  one  of  the  tutors  in  the  school  of 
Christ,  he  is  explaining  to  them  the  beneficent  re- 
sults of  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  find  out 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  THE  SOUL.        69 

more  clearly  what  this  school  life  is  to  be.  The 
fruit  of  this  teaching,  Paul  says,  is  ''  love,  joy,  peace* 
long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
temperance."  And  the  reason  for  this  teaching  is 
that  the  soul  is  being  fitted  for  a  special  destiny, 
which  is  set  forth  in  the  wonderful  words  of  Jesus, 
"  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions,"  and  in 
the  further  declaration,  the  explicitness  of  which 
has  comforted  so  many  trembling  hearts,  "  I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you." 

Surely  no  one  can  fail  to  see  into  what  a  noble 
and  high  atmosphere  such  a  conception  lifts  our 
human  lives.  It  takes  us  up  out  of  the  dust  and  the 
dirt  of  a  mere  animal  struggle  and  scramble  for  ex- 
istence. All  life  is  a  school,  and  everything  depends 
upon  the  school  we  choose — whether  we  choose  the 
school  of  the  flesh  or  the  school  of  the  Spirit ;  for 
our  destiny  is  dictated  by  character,  and  our  char- 
acters are  formed  by  the  principles  inculcated  in 
our  life  schools.  We  can  sec  this  illustrated  every 
day.  Here  are  two  young  men  who  grow  up  in  the 
country  side  by  side,  on  neighboring  farms.  They 
are  warm  friends  through  all  their  boyhood.  But 
when  they  come  to  get  out  into  the  world  they  take 
different  courses.  One  becomes  a  sincere  Christian, 
yields  his  life  to  be  governed  by  high  ambitions,  and 
works  with  honest  purpose  toward  noble  ends  ;  the 
other  becomes  a  gambler  and  a  swindler.  They 
may  live  together  in  the  same  city.  There  has 
been  no  quarrel  between  these  tw^o  men,  no  outer 
wall  has  been  built  between  them,  and  yet  they  are 
more  completely  separated  than  if  the  Atlantic 
Ocean    rolled    between    them.      They   have   both 


70  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

grown  and  developed,  but  every  step  they  have 
taken  has  separated  them  from  each  other.  With- 
out any  ill  feeling  or  special  aim  to  exclude  each 
other,  they  go  separate  ways.  Each  has  his  own 
circle  of  friends,  his  own  school  of  influences,  and 
these  circles  and  schools  never  mingle.  Like  mag- 
netized steel  filings,  they  associate  and  separate  by 
laws  of  their  own,  which  do  not  depend  for  exist- 
ence upon  any  social  edict,  but  upon  the  very  foun- 
dation stones  of  the  universe,  that  can  never  be 
overturned.  Such  illustrations  teach  us  that  it  is 
not  the  place  where  men  dwell  that  unites  or  sepa- 
rates them,  but  the  spirit  which  dwells  in  them. 
Oliver  Twist,  though  thrown  among  thieves,  re- 
tained his  purity  and  was  not  a  thief.  Abdiel,  in 
Milton's  vision  of  the  rebel  angels,  was  not  a  rebel, 

"  faithful  found, 
Among  the  faithless,  faithful  only  he." 

The  Lord  is  drawing  to  himself  all  who,  in  the 
school  time  of  life,  are  learning  his  spirit  and  are 
coming  to  have  his  likeness.  If  we  do  not  have  fel- 
lowship with  Christ  here  it  would  be  impossible  for 
us  to  have  any  peace  with  him  in  heaven.  Heaven 
would  be  a  very  poor  place  indeed  if  it  were  not 
something  more  than  a  city  with  golden  streets,  with 
living  streams  of  water  running  through  it,  and  trees 
of  life  v/aving  on  their  shores.  Many  a  man  has  had 
practically  all  these  in  the  world  and  has  committed 
suicide  to  try  to  escape  the  remorse  of  his  con- 
science. No,  indeed.  Heaven  is  no  mere  land  of 
healthful  skies  and  wholesome  atmosphere,  where 

"  Sickness  and  sorrow,  pain  and  death. 
Are  felt  and  feared  no  more." 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  THE  SOUL.         71 

What  could  these  do  to  satisfy  a  man  of  restless, 
unholy  ambition  or  to  give  peace  to  one  who  all  his 
life  has  been  fostering  in  his  soul  an  insatiate  greed 
/or  an  unbridled  passion? 

The  scriptures  we  are  studying  make  it  very  clear 
that  it  is  idle  to  talk  about  going  to  heaven  unless, 
during  this  childhood  of  the  soul  which  we  are  pass- 
ing through  here  on  earth,  we  are  being  prepared 
and  fitted  to  enjoy  the  conditions  of  the  heavenly 
life.  God  prepares  everything  for  its  place.  He 
adjusts  the  air  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  Aving 
of  the  bird.  He  fits  a  bee  to  gather  honey  and  pre- 
pares certain  flowers  to  produce  it ;  and  this  great 
law  is  true  throughout  all  the  universe.  Man,  who 
occupies  the  highest  place  in  God's  creation — the 
one,  indeed,  for  whom  all  birds  and  all  atmospheres 
and  all  bees  and  all  the  honey  of  life  were  created — 
is  not  an  exception  to  this  beneficent  rule.  Here  in 
this  world,  in  this  time  of  the  soul's  childhood,  God 
is  preparing  a  people  for  a  heaven  of  immortal  glory 
which  is  being  prepared  to  receive  them. 

Over  in  Scotland,  when  the  North  Bridge  of  Ed- 
inburgh was  widened  some  years  ago,  they  found  in 
the  arched  vaults  under  the  roadway  the  most 
wonderful  caves  of  snow-white  stalactites.  The  rain, 
percolating  through  the  roof,  carried  with  it  the 
lime  with  which  the  stones  were  cemented,  and  by 
a  slow  and  silent  process,  carried  on  for  many  years, 
transformed  the  gloomy  vaults  into  a  fairy  scene. 
Who  would  have  suspected  that  under  the  common 
roadway,  under  the  tread  of  the  busy  feet  of  toil  and 
of  the  hurrying  world,  such  a  wonderful  transforma- 
tion was  going  on  ?     And  who  would  suppose  that  in 


72  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

the  midst  of  this  common,  everyday  life  of  ours  the 
walls  of  an  eternal  city  were  growing  up,  without 
noise  or  ax  or  hammer,  our  visible  life  being  merely 
the  scaffolding  of  it ;  that  out  of  the  common  ma- 
terials of  our  hard,  earthly  experience  there  were 
being  formed  gates  of  pearl  through  which  we  shall 
enter  into  the  heavenly  city?  Here  and  now,  if  at 
all,  these  walls  and  gates  must  for  us  be  formed. 

But  we  have  marked  out  for  us,  in  these  scrip- 
tures, certain  lines  of  education  in  which  we  are  to 
be  perfected,  under  the  guidance  and  teaching  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  first  is  love ;  and  under  that 
might  be  grouped,  for  convenience,  gentleness, 
meekness,  and  long-suffering,  as  under  the  term 
''  mathematics  "  we  might  group  arithmetic,  alge- 
bra, and  geometry.  The  first  law  of  Christian  life 
is  love,  and  the  man  who  learns  that  well  will  know 
how  to  be  meek  and  gentle  and  long-suffering. 

Love  is  appreciation.  It  sees  all  that  is  good  in 
the  object  of  affection  and  rejoices  in  it  and  makes 
much  of  it.  See  how  this  is  manifested  by  the 
Saviour  in  this  fourteenth  chapter  of  John.  Jesus 
says,  ''  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  ;  " 
and  then  he  adds,  *'  If  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have 
told  you."  Was  there  ever  a  more  delicate  and 
beautiful  touch  of  tender  appreciation  of  the  feel- 
ings of  others  than  that?  He  would  not  have  let 
them  go  on  hoping  and  wishing  and  longing  for  an 
immortal  fellowship  with  him  if  it  were  not  pos- 
sible. And  then  he  says,  "  I  will  come  again,  and 
receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am,  there  ye 
may  be  also."  How  full  of  the  comfort  of  love  that 
is!     How  full  of  encouragement !     He  assures  their 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  THE  SOUL.  73 

poor,  timid  hearts  that  the  loneliness  is  not  going  to 
be  all  on  their  side  when  he  goes  away  from  them, 
but  that  heaven  itself  will  lack  them,  and  that  he 
will  look  forward  with  loving  joy  to  the  graduation 
day  when  he  shall  come  to  the  dark  dungeon,  or  the 
gibbet,  or  the  cross,  where  their  earthly  careers  shall 
close,  and  with  angelic  retinue  bring  them  home  in 
glorious  triumph  to  the  Father's  house. 

How  we  all  need  this  blessed  teaching  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  that  we  may  love  each  other  more,  and 
thus  nerve  each  other  day  by  day  to  do  life's  duties  ! 
There  is  no  such  sweetener  of  daily  toil  as  loving 
appreciativeness.  There  is  no  grace  of  the  spirit 
so  beautiful  in  the  home,  and  none  that  so  takes 
away  all  that  is  harsh  and  galling  about  business  as- 
sociations. Every  one  of  us  knows  by  experience 
the  effect,  even  upon  our  physical  strength,  of  words 
of  appreciation  and  encouragement.  We  never  get 
tired  telling  the  story  of  the  fireman  who  was  at- 
tempting to  scale  a  perilous  ladder  in  order  to  save 
a  human  life  jeopardized  in  a  burning  building. 
He  seemed  to  waver  and  be  almost  ready  to  aban- 
don his  attempt,  when  some  one  in  the  crowd  be- 
low cried,  "  Cheer  him."  The  crowd  caught  up  the 
suggestion  and  sent  up  cheer  after  cheer,  which  so 
reinvigorated  the  almost  exhausted  man  that  he  re- 
doubled his  efforts  and  energy,  and  the  threatened 
life  was  saved.  God  only  knows  how  many  there 
are  who  fail  of  doing  lofty  and  noble  deeds  for  the 
lack  of  the  good  cheer  of  loving  appreciation. 

Love  will  make  us  meek,  so  that  we  shall  be  able 
to  give  and  take  in  our  church  work,  not  always 
stubbornly  thinking  our  way  must  be  the  right  way 


74  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

and  our  brother's  way  wrong.  The  lack  of  meek- 
ness on  the  part  of  Christian  people  is  a  great  hin- 
drance to  the  church.  A  Scotch  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter tells  the  story  that  on  one  occasion  he  happened 
to  visit  a  resident  of  his  parish  and  asked  what 
church  he  was  in  the  habit  of  attending.  The  man 
answered  that  he  had  belonged  to  a  certain  congre- 
gation, but  that  he  and  others  could  not  assent  to 
certain  views  which  were  accepted  by  the  majority, 
and  they  had,  therefore,  formed  a  secession. 

"  Then  you  worship  with  those  friends  ?  " 

"  Well,  no  ;  the  fact  is,  I  found  there  were  certain 
points  on  which  we  could  not  conform,  so  I 
seceded." 

"  O,  then,  I  suppose  you  and  your  wife  engage 
in  devotion  together  at  home  ?  " 

"  Well,  not  precisely.  Our  views  are  not  quite 
in  accord,  so  she  worships  in  that  corner  of  the 
room,  and  I  in  this." 

This,  of  course,  seems  an  exaggerated  illustration  ; 
and  yet  do  we  not  see  the  same  spirit  lived  out 
among  people  who  continue  to  remain  together  in 
the  same  church  ? 

But  we  may  rest  assured  it  is  meekness  and  gentle- 
ness in  us  that  will  attract  men  to  Christ,  while  a 
stubborn  spirit  on  our  part  will  drive  them  away. 
It  is  related  of  Beethoven  that  he  once  visited  a 
church  where  the  organist  did  not  know  him.  At 
the  close  of  the  service  a  friend  asked  the  organist 
to  allow  Beethoven  to  play  as  the  congregation  went 
out.  They  were  in  the  habit  of  going  out  hastily, 
as  the  organist  was  a  perfunctory,  wooden  sort  of 
person  ;  but   when    Beethoven    touched    the   keys 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  THE  SOUL.  75 

every  person  in  the  assembly  who  had  music  in  his 
soul  paused,  and  when  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  had 
passed  the  audience  was  increasing  instead  of  less- 
ening. The  regular  organist  lost  all  patience  and 
said,  "You  don't  know  how  to  play  the  people  out 
of  church;  let  me  take  hold."  And,  sure  enough, 
as  soon  as  he  began  the  congregation  dispersed  with 
a  shiver.  It  is  only  the  true  heavenly  music  of  love 
and  gentleness  and  meekness  and  long-suffering  that 
will  attract  the  dear  ones  of  our  homes  or  the  wan- 
dering ones  in  our  community  to  forsake  their  sins 
and  accept  our  Christ.  If  we  want  to  win  others 
to  our  school  we  must  show  by  our  own  proficiency 
in  the  art  of  loving  what  a  blessed  Teacher  we  have. 

Then  there  is  another  branch  of  education  pointed 
out  to  us  in  the  one  word  "  goodness."  This  is  in 
contrast  to  the  school  of  the  flesh.  We  are  taught 
in  the  school  of  the  Spirit  to  abhor  that  which  is 
evil  and  to  cling  to  that  which  is  good.  To  be  good 
is,  to  put  it  in  the  simplest  way,  to  be  morally 
healthy.  Goodness  means  health.  It  includes,  of 
course,  honesty,  righteousness,  justice,  and  throws 
about  them  all  the  aroma  of  love  which,  being  taught 
in  the  same  school,  pervades  the  very  atmosphere  of 
it.  But  we  need  to  have  the  emphasis  put  again 
and  again  upon  the  supreme  duty  of  the  Christian 
to  be  simply  and  honestly  and  genuinely  good. 

We  have  had  a  signal  illustration  of  the  necessity 
of  this  kind  of  teaching  in  New  York  city  during 
the  last  few  days.  The  Tenement  House  Commis- 
sion, which  has  been  making  investigation  into  the 
condition  of  tenement  houses  belonging  to  the  par- 
ish of  Trinity  Church,  has  found  that  many  of  them 


76  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

are  miserable  old  rookeries,  in  which  decency  is  im- 
possible, and  where  the  death  rate  is  almost  unpar- 
alleled in  any  other  part  of  the  city,  and  that  the 
representatives  of  this  property  had  fought  the 
Board  of  Health  in  their  efforts  to  get  water  on  to 
each  floor  in  these  tenement  houses  so  that  the  poor 
people  might  have  some  fair  chance  for  cleanliness 
and  health.  What  a  contemptible  thing  it  seems 
in  the  midst  of  all  this  to  have  the  agent  of  the 
property  boastfully  state  how  much  of  this  rent 
money  they  give  for  charity!  How  God  Almighty 
must  spurn  such  charity  money  as  that  !  The  idea 
of  keeping  poor,  hard-working,  toiling  people  in  dirt 
and  filth,  wringing  the  last  penny  out  of  them,  in 
order  that  when  they  have  reached  the  bottom  of 
the  ladder,  or  by  this  cruel  treatment  their  children 
are  sick  unto  death,  a  mite  of  this  blood  money  may 
be  doled  back  to  them  in  charity  !  Such  charity 
smells  of  the  pit,  rather  than  of  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

I  fear  there  is  a  great  deal  of  false  consecration  to 
God  ;  a  sort  of  sentimental  consecration  without  any 
strong  purpose  of  soul  back  of  it.  The  historian 
tells  us  that,  in  the  year  1471,  Louis  XI  executed  a 
solemn  deed  of  ownership  by  which  he  conveyed  to 
the  Virgin  Mary  the  whole  country  of  Boulogne  in 
France ;  but  the  wily  king  reserved  for  himself  all 
the  revenues  thereof.  And  no  doubt  he  deluded 
himself  with  the  idea  that  he  had  done  a  generous 
and  pious  thing  toward  the  Virgin,  when  in  fact  he 
had  done  nothing  at  all.  Brother,  are  you  thus  de- 
ceiving yourself  about  the  consecration  of  your  life 
and  all  you  have  to  God  ?     We  want,  not  a  mere 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  THE  SOUL.  77 

sentimentalism,  not  a  goodishness,  not  a  goody- 
goodyness,  but  a  positive  goodness  that  shrinks 
from  and  abhors  evil  and  loves  and  clings  to  the 
good  in  our  everyday  life. 

Then  there  is  faith  which  we  are  to  study  in  the 
school  of  the  Spirit ;  and  under  it  you  may  group 
its  results — ^joy  and  peace  and  temperance.  The 
word  "  temperance  "  here  has  no  reference  to  our 
modern  use  of  the  term.  It  means  moderation. 
The  man  of  great  faith  is  the  one  who  can  afford  to 
be  temperate  and  moderate,  conscious  as  he  is  of 
the  immutable  strength  of  his  position.  And  the 
ripe  scholar  in  faith  cannot  help  but  be  joyous.  Dr. 
Meredith  tells  us  of  a  little  colored  boy  down  in 
Mississippi  who  was  converted  to  God,  and  he  was 
so  happy  he  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  himself. 
He  danced,  and  he  leaped,  and  he  sang,  and  he 
shouted  ;  and  finally  he  cried  out,  "  O  !  it  is  sweet 
— it  is  sweet — it  is  sweet  as  molasses  !  "  That  little 
curly-headed  fellow  felt  just  like  David  did  nearly 
three  thousand  years  ago  when,  rejoicing  in  the 
same  experience,  he  exclaimed,  "  Sweeter  also  than 
honey  and  the  honeycomb."  One  of  them  lived 
in  a  honey  country,  and  the  other  in  a  molasses 
country.  But  the  blessed  experience,  joyous  beyond 
all  words  to  express,  was  the  same  in  both  cases, 
and  is  being  multiplied  all  over  the  world  in  every 
land  and  kindred  and  tongue.  Out  of  a  living  faith 
springs  joy  as  naturally  as  the  mountain  spring  bub- 
bles from  its  snow-fed  reservoir.  The  exulting  joy 
may  not  always  last,  but  the  peace  into  which  it 
flows  is  an  ever-widening  river  in  the  faithful  heart. 

This  faith  which  thus  feedsjoy  and  peace  is  the  key 


78  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

to  all  Christian  power.  Dr.  Judson  was  once  asked, 
when  the  cause  of  missions  was  in  its  infancy,  if  he 
thought  the  prospect  for  the  conversion  of  the  world 
looked  bright.  His  reply  was,  ''Yes,  as  bright  as 
the  promises  of  God  can  make  it."  O  brothers  and 
sisters,  let  us  in  this  church  keep  in  close  touch  with 
the  sublime  spirit  of  our  Christianity  !  Above  every 
other  faith  in  the  world  Christianity  is  the  religion 
of  expectancy.  We  do  not  have  to  look  backward 
for  any  golden  age  in  the  past ;  our  golden  age  is 
coming  day  by  day,  and  every  act  of  self-denial  and 
every  earnest  deed  we  do  in  Christ's  dear  name  help 
to  swell  the  glory  of  that  coming  time. 

The  result  of  all  this  education  is  a  mansion.  "  In 
my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions."  This  con- 
ception of  life  robs  death  of  its  terrors.  Death  is 
our  graduation  day.  It  simply  takes  us  away  from 
the  seminary  or  college  and  takes  us  home  to  the 
family  mansion  and  the  ancestral  estate.  And  the 
experience  of  all  the  glorious  names  in  this  blessed 
school  of  Christ,  stretching  through  all  ages  and  all 
around  the  earth,  bears  testimony  to  this.  Dean 
Stanley,  when  traveling  once  in  Germany  on  a 
Rhine  steamer,  became  acquainted  with  a  boy. 
The  boy  asked  him  his  age.  Being  answered,  he 
said,  ''Why,  all  your  life  is  over."  "  No,"  said  the 
dean,  "  the  best  time  is  yet  to  come."  A  friend 
once  said  to  another,  "  You  must  be  on  the  wrong 
side  of  sixty."  "  No,"  he  replied,  "  I  am  on  the 
right  side."  We  can  never  thank  God  enough  for 
the  shining  pathway  up  which  Christian  old  age 
walks,  with  the  glory  of  the  sunset,  which  is  the 
promise  of  the  sunrise,  upon  its  happy  face. 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  THE  SOUL.  79 

When  Frances  Ridley  Havergal  had  reached  the 
last  day  of  her  saintly  life  she  said  to  her  friends,  in 
the  midst  of  great  pain,  "  God's  will  is  delicious ; 
he  makes  no  mistakes."  Bidding  one  of  her  phy- 
sicians  good-bye,  she  asked,  ''  Do  you  really  think  I 
am  going?"  He  answered,  ''Yes."  "To-day?" 
she  inquired.  "  Probably,"  was  the  reply.  Then 
she  exclaimed,  "  Beautiful  1  too  good  to  be  true !  " 
And,  looking  up  with  a  smile,  she  added,  "  Splen- 
did !  to  be  so  near  the  gates  of  heaven  !  "  Later, 
as  the  time  of  her  departure  came,  she  nestled  down 
into  the  pillows  and  folded  her  arms  upon  her 
breast,  saying,  "  There,  it  is  all  over !  Blessed 
rest !  "  And,  as  they  watched  her,  her  countenance 
became  radiant  with  the  glory  seemingly  breaking 
in  upon  her  soul,  and  those  who  watched  her 
thought  she  appeared  as  if  she  were  conversing  with 
the  King  in  his  beauty.  She  tried  to  sing,  but  after 
one  sweet  note  her  voice  died  away,  and  she  was 
gone  to  be  with  her  Lord. 

Glorious,  indeed,  to  die  the  death  of  the  right- 
eous. As  another  has  so  beautifully  said,  each  sea- 
son of  the  year  and  every  period  of  human  life  have 
heaven's  gate  open  above  them.  William  Cullen 
Bryant,  the  poet,  all  his  life  wanted  to  die  in  June, 
and  God  gave  him  his  desire;  but  December  an- 
swers just  as  well,  and  is  balmy  for  dying  if  it  is  not 
for  living.  Thank  God,  heaven  is  not  so  cold  that 
they  have  to  shut  the  door  in  winter  to  keep  it 
warm  !  Life's  seasons  all  front  the  open  gates  of 
eternal  blessedness.  They  are  open  to  the  little 
babe  who  says  to  the  challenge  of  the  sentinel :  ''  I 
was  born  near  the  gates  of  pearl  and  had  not  far  to 


80  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

come.  I  came  across  only  a  little  narrow  strip  of 
breathing  and  pulse  beats.  Almost  as  soon  as  the 
earthly  air  blew  upon  me  it  wafted  me  hither.  My 
feet  have  not  so  much  as  touched  the  earth  and  are 
not  dusty ;  they  will  not  soil  your  gold-bright  pave- 
ments. Let  me  in  !  "  They  open,  also,  to  the  old 
saint  who  says:  "  I  have  eaten  the  bread  of  more 
than  fourscore  years.  I  have  ridden  the  earth 
around  the  sun  above  eighty  times.  The  snow  five 
thousand  winters  old  on  the  world's  most  aged 
mountain  is  not  whiter  than  my  locks.  I  have  trav- 
eled all  lands,  I  have  sailed  all  seas,  I  have  borne 
all  weathers.  If  the  earth  is  not  weary  of  me  I  am 
of  it.     Welcome,  heaven!     Let  me  in!" 

"  O,  heaven  is  nearer  than  mortals  think 

When  they  look  with  trembling  dread 
At  the  misty  future  that  stretches  on 

From  the  silent  homes  of  the  dead. 
'Tis  no  lone  isle  in  the  brilliant  main, 

No  distant  but  brilliant  shore, 
Where  the  loved  ones,  when  called  away, 

Must  go  to  return  no  more. 

"  The  eye  that  shuts  in  a  dying  hour 

Will  open  in  endless  bliss ; 
The  welcome  will  sound  in  a  heavenly  world 

E'er  the  farewell  is  hushed  in  this. 
We  pass  from  the  clasp  of  mourning  friends 

To  the  arms  of  the  loved  and  lost ; 
And  the  smiling  faces  will  greet  us  there 

Which  on  earth  we  valued  most." 


THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER. 


VII. 

iNSPIRATION,    NOT   IMITATION,    THE  KEY  TO 
CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER. 

"  Be  ye  imitators  of  me,  even  as  I  also  am  of  Christ." — i  Cor.  xi,  i 
(Revised  Version). 

AT  first  glance  this  seems  very  strange  advice. 
Here  is  a  brave,  strong  man,  an  energetic, 
bold,  daring  spirit,  full  of  originality,  clinging  to  his 
own  individuality  with  intense  persistence,  striking 
out  into  new  paths,  and  yet  asking  others  to  be  im- 
itators of  him.  It  seems  to  strike  directly  at  one 
of  the  great  essential  truths  of  our  human  nature — 
the  individuality  of  human  life;  for  there  is  no  pro- 
founder  truth,  and  none  more  important,  than  that 
we  have  a  personal  selfhood  which  we  are  under 
supreme  obligation  to  God  to  retain  inviolate  and 
develop,  and  make  of  it  the  most  that  we  possibly 
can.  To  be  a  mere  copyist  of  other  people  is  the 
most  dreary  and  monotonous  outlook  that  can  be 
presented  to  any  human  soul.  Nothing  cramps  and 
fetters  and  cripples  progress  more  than  that. 

We  have,  then,  here  a  serious  question.  What 
did  Paul  mean  when  he  deliberately  said  to  these 
Corinthian  people,  "  Be  ye  imitators  of  me,  even  as 
I  also  am  of  Christ?"  The  explanation  of  the  first 
phrase  is  in  the  last ;  and  in  order  to  know  what  he 
meant  we  must  turn  to  PauFs  own  life  and  find  out 


82  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

how  he  imitated  Christ.  When  we  do  that  I  think 
the  difficulty  disappears  ;  for  we  see  that  in  the  imi- 
tation of  Christ  in  Paul's  life  there  is  nothing  that 
cramps  or  fetters,  but  everything  that  inspires  and 
enlarges.  Paul  did  not  undertake  to  do  the  same 
things  that  Christ  did.  He  did  not  undertake  to 
imitate  him  even  in  the  style  of  living  or  in  any  of 
the  peculiar  characteristics  of  his  work;  and  yet 
there  was  never  a  more  loyal  disciple  on  the  earth 
than  Paul  to  Jesus  Christ.  He  worshiped  him,  he 
revered  him,  he  loved  him,  he  counted  it  all  joy  to 
suffer  for  him,  he  never  made  a  murmur  or  a  com- 
plaint at  any  burden  laid  upon  his  shoulders  on  ac- 
count of  his  loyalty  to  Christ  ;  but  in  his  eyes  even 
the  scars  left  by  the  claw  of  the  tiger  or  by  the 
stones  or  bludgeons  of  a  mob  were  glorified  as  be- 
ing the  marks  of  his  faithfulness  to  Christ.  And 
yet  I  repeat  that  he  did  not  imitate  Christ  by  trying 
to  go  about  the  world  doing  the  same  things  that 
Christ  did.  With  Paul,  service  was  something  in- 
^nitely  greater  and  nobler  than  that.  He  had  come 
into  fellowship  and  brotherhood  with  Christ.  He 
had  caught  his  spirit.  He  felt  that  he  was  on  the 
earth  to  represent  Christ,  to  maintain  the  honor  and 
glory  of  his  name,  to  win  disciples  to  him,  and 
everywhere  to  be  as  his  embassador. 

Not  in  any  narrow  sense,  then,  of  copying  or  imita- 
tion of  individual  deeds  did  Paul  follow  Christ ;  but 
he  was  inspired  by  him.  As  Jesus  came  to  the 
earth  to  do  the  will  of  God,  to  walk  a  pathway  con- 
tinually observed  in  heaven,  to  contend  against 
spiritual  adversaries  with  a  brave  and  dauntless  faith, 
so  Paul  was  here  to  do   the  will   of  God.     To  him, 


THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER.  83 

too,  heaven  was  near  and  full  of  watchful  sympathy. 
"  We  wrestle  not,"  he  says, ''  against  flesh  and  blood, 
but  against  principalities,  against  powers,  against 
the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against 
spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places."  And  so  the 
struggle  of  life  was  a  noble  fight  to  Paul.  And,  ap- 
preciating his  spirit,  it  is  easy  to  understand  the 
tone  and  temper  of  his  mind  when  he  said,  '^  For 
our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment, 
worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory." 

Let  us  ask,  then,  in  what  respect  Paul  did  imi- 
tate the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  think  we  must  say 
that,  first  of  all,  he  imitated  him  in  his  estimate  of 
the  worth  of  personal  character.  Christ  put  great 
stress  upon  the  value  of  the  inner  man.  "  Things  " 
were  of  very  insignificant  value  in  his  eyes.  ''  A 
man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth  "  is  one  of  those  clear-cut 
expressions  of  his  that  cleave  through  all  our  world- 
liness  and  sophistry  like  a  blade  of  Damascus  steel. 
In  Christ's  gospel,  what  a  man  really  is  in  his  inner 
character  is  everything.  If  the  tree  is  right  the 
fruit  will  be  right ;  so  he  reasons.  With  earnest 
query  he  puts  it  to  his  audience,  '^  Do  men  gather 
grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles  ?  " — that  is,  if  you 
have  a  bad  tree,  a  noxious  plant  in  its  very  nature, 
it  must  yield  fruit  after  its  kind ;  the  divine  im- 
perative is  upon  it.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
inner  nature  is  pure  and  good,  the  law  that  keeps 
the  planets  in  their  courses  lays  its  imperative  upon 
it,  that  it  must  produce  good  fruits. 

Paul  imitates  Christ  in  this.     He  puts  it  in  his 


84  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

own  way;  there  is  no  copying  or  slavish  imitation 
even  here  ;  but  it  is  ingrained  into  his  very  soul. 
And  so  it  seems  natural  to  hear  him  say,  ''All 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God" — not  because  of  a  miracle  or 'because  they 
have  instructions  to  do  it  or  are  commanded  to  do 
it  by  the  King  on  his  throne.  They  do  it — they 
must  do  it.  It  is  the  law  of  the  heart  of  God  that 
for  the  good  the  universe  works  together  to  bring 
it  to  triumph.  Or,  again,  we  hear  him  say,  "  There 
is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which 
are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh, 
but  after  the  Spirit.  For  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of 
life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the  law 
of  sin  and  death."  And  still  again  we  hear  him 
crying  out  to  the  Galatians  in  their  battle  against 
worldly  lusts  and  low  passions,  "  Walk  in  the  Spirit, 
and  ye  shall  not  fulfill  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  " — shall 
not,  because  your  character  is  spiritual,  your  inner 
selfhood  is  divinely  controlled.  As  naturally  as  a 
Bartlett  pear  tree  grows  pears  instead  of  crab  apples, 
so  the  divinely  attuned  soul  must  bear  spiritual 
graces  instead  of  the  lusts  of  the  flesh. 

There  could  not  be  a  more  serious  subject  to 
study  than  this.  What  we  are  in  our  inner  fiber 
must  dictate  our  influence  and  our  future.  It  is 
useless  to  undertake  to  do  for  others  what  we  have 
not  in  kind  in  ourselves.  Mr.  Hall  Caine,  the 
author  of  TJie  Manxman,  recently  delivered  a  lec- 
ture before  a  company  of  authors  in  Edinburgh,  in 
which  he  declared  that,  though  a  writer  may  not  be 
conscious  of  any  purpose  to  influence  others  in  their 
moral  character,  it  is  impossible   for  him  to  escape 


THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER.  85 

doing  it  or  to  rid  himself  of  the  moral  responsibility 
of  it.  ''  Your  work,"  said  Mr.  Caine,  "  is  what  you 
are.  It  cannot  help  but  carry  with  it  the  moral  at- 
mosphere in  which  you  live.  Tell  me  what  manner 
of  man  you  are,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  the  moral 
effect  of  your  work  will  be."  '' Imagination,"  he 
continues,  ''  is  a  chemical,  which,  let  a  man  pour  it 
on  any  plate  whatsoever,  is  sure  to  develop  the  fea- 
tures of  his  own  face." 

And  this  is  no  more  true  of  an  author  than  it  is 
of  each  one  of  us.  For  we  are  all  authors.  We 
are  day  by  day,  by  every  action  of  our  daily  lives, 
by  every  conversation  we  have,  by  every  tone  in 
which  we  speak  our  words,  by  the  very  atmosphere 
with  which  we  welcome  and  warm  the  hearts  of 
those  we  greet,  or  rebuke  and  freeze  in  silence  those 
whom  we  would  reject,  registering — on  far  more  im- 
perishable manuscript  than  is  produced  in  any 
modern  paper  mill,  on  the  undying  tablets  of  the 
soul — our  thoughts,  our  convictions,  and  our  judg- 
ments. We  are  writing  books  that  no  eye  save 
God's  can  read  as  yet,  it  may  be,  but  writing  them 
to  be  an  unfading  record  when  all  the  libraries  of 
the  earth  shall  be  burned  up.  And  remember  that 
all  this  registration  depends  upon  what  you  are.  If 
your  heart  is  pure,  if  your  courage  is  strong,  if  your 
ambitions  are  noble,  if  your  trust  in  God  is  sublime, 
if  your  love  for  humanity  is  deep  and  tender,  if  your 
brotherhood  is  simple  and  Christlike,  then  you,  too, 
are  an  imitator  of  Paul,  as  he  was  of  Christ,  and 
your  life  is  continually  an  inspiration  to  all  other 
human  lives. 

How  natural  this  makes  a  Christian  life.     It  takes 


86  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

out  of  it  everything  that  is  unreal  and  unnatural, 
and  brings  us  back  to  the  plain,  simple  ground  that 
by  nature  we  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  God, 
and  that,  though  we  have  wandered  and  strayed 
away  and  are  living  in  the  low  and  vulgar  conditions 
of  a  wicked  life,  v/hen  the  Christ  comes,  bearing  our 
flesh,  living  a  human  life  hke  ours,  and  yet  living  it 
purely  and  in  a  brotherly  spirit  full  of  a  divine  joy 
and  triumph,  there  is  something  in  our  own  hearts 
that  echoes  back  to  it,  and  we  are  inspired  and  en- 
couraged and  roused  to  a  glorious  imitation — an 
imitation  which  is  not  imitation,  but  an  inspiration  to 
rise  up  and  possess  the  life  for  which  we  were  made. 
Richard  Watson  Gilder  has  written  some  very 
suggestive  verses  on  "  How  to  the  Singer  Comes  the 
Song?" 

"  How  to  the  singer  comes  the  song? 

At  times  a  joy,  alone  ; 

A  wordless  tone, 

Caught  from  the  crystal  gleam  of  ice-bound  trees  ; 

Or  from  the  violet-perfumed  breeze ; 

Or  the  salt  smell  of  seas. 

In  sunlight  weltering  many  an  emerald  mile  ; 

Or  the  keen  memory  of  a  love-lit  smile. 

"  Thus  to  the  singer  comes  the  song: 

Gazing  at  crimson  skies, 

Where  burns  and  dies 

On  day's  wide  hearth  the  calm,  celestial  fire, 

The  poet,  with  a  wild  desire, 

Strikes  the  impassioned  lyre. 

Takes  into  tuned  sound  the  flaming  sight, 

And  utters  with  new  song  the  ancient  night. 

"How  to  the  singer  comes  the  song.^* 
Bowed  down  by  ill  and  sorrow 
On  every  morrow. 


THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER.  87 

The  unworded  pain  breaks  forth  in  heavenly  singmg ; 

Not  all  too  late  sharp  solace  bringing 

To  broken  spirits  winging, 

Through  mortal  anguish,  to  the  unknown  rest — 

A  lyric  balm  for  every  wounded  breast. 

"  How  to  the  singer  comes  the  song  ? 

How  to  the  summer  fields 

Come  flowers  ?     How  yields 

Darkness  to  happy  dawn  ?     How  doth  the  night 

Bring  stars  ?     O,  how  do  love  and  light 

Leap  at  the  sound  and  sight 

Of  her  who  makes  this  dark  world  seem  less  wrong — 

Life  of  my  life,  and  soul  of  all  my  song ! " 

Just  SO  naturally  comes  a  Christian's  joy  and  tri. 
umph.  Lifted  up  out  of  the  mire,  out  of  the  fog 
and  the  mist  and  the  darkness,  out  of  the  sin  and 
despair,  out  of  the  doubt  and  the  fear,  he  is  set  upon 
the  rock  where  all  the  plains  of  God's  love  stretch 
about  him.  No  wonder  that  a  new  song  is  put  into 
his  mouth,  even  praise  unto  our  God  !  He  sings  be- 
cause he  must.  He  is  glad  because  he  is  in  the 
realm  of  gladness.  He  is  at  peace  because  he  has 
risen  out  of  the  land  of  discord  and  all  the  chords 
of  life  are  in  harmony. 

Paul  imitated  Christ  in  his  attitude  toward  his 
fellow-man.  To  both  Christ  and  Paul  the  human 
problem  was  the  only  problem  worth  the  giving  of 
one's  whole  heart  and  soul.  Everything  else  is  in- 
significant in  this  world  in  comparison  to  the  value 
of  humanity  itself.  Railroads  and  steamships  and 
machines  and  inventions  of  every  sort  are  to  be 
valued  first,  not  for  the  amount  of  money  they  will 
make  or  the  rapidity  with  which  they  will  gather  it, 
but  for  the  kind  of  man  they  will  produce.     Geog- 


88  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

raphers  tell  us  that  the  loftiest  mountani  ranges  on 
the  globe  are  to  the  mighty  diameter  of  the  earth 
but  as  the  rough  spots  on  the  rind  of  an  orange  to 
its  sweet  interior.  So  some  one  says,  "All  that  is 
external  to  the  man  himself  is  but  a  wrinkle  to  his 
inner  soul."  I  repeat  it,  that  the  human  problem  is 
the  great  problem.  Even  so  devoted  a  scientist  as 
Herbert  Spencer  says,  ''  It  may  be  a  fact  that  my 
neighbor's  cat  has  seven  kittens  ;  but,  before  you 
ask  me  to  ponder  it,  tell  me  how  that  fact  is  related 
to  me."  The  human  interest  is  the  supreme  inter- 
est. Christ  valued  everything  of  the  universe  ac- 
cording to  its  relation  to  the  building  up  of  men  and 
women  and  children.  Paul  was  his  most  devout 
imitator  in  this.  God  help  us  to  fall  into  the  royal 
line  ! 

All  the  great  souls  that  have  put  humanity  most 
in  their  debt  have  lived  in  this  spirit.  Charles 
Dickens,  after  he  had  written  Little  Dorrit,  in 
which  he  had  by  his  marvelous  genius  set  in  the  pil- 
lory of  public  opinion  many  cruel  abuses,  described 
it  to  a  friend  as  a  personal  safety  valve.  "■  I  have 
been  blowing  off  a  little  indignant  steam,"  he  said, 
''  which  would  otherwise  blow  me  up."  The  in- 
scription on  the  tomb  of  General  Gordon,  better 
known  as  Chinese  Gordon,  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral 
in  London,  closes  like  this :  *'  Who  at  all  times  and 
everywhere  gave  his  strength  to  the  weak,  his  sub- 
stance to  the  poor,  his  sympathy  to  the  suffering, 
and  his  heart  to  God."  What  wonder  that  the 
Chinamen  listened  to  him  as  if  he  were  from  another 
world,  and  that  many  an  African  tribe  regarded  him 
as  a  visitor  from   heaven.     And  what  glorious  op- 


THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER.  89 

portunities  are  afforded  us  to  work  out  our  salvation 
and  deck  our  crown  with  original  stones,  gathered 
in  our  own  way,  in  our  own  land,  for  the  immortal 
rejoicing ! 

"  God's  angels  drop,  like  sands  of  gold, 
Our  duties  midst  life's  shining  sands. 
And  from  them,  one  by  one,  we  mold 

Our  own  bright  crown  with  patient  hands. 
From  dust  and  dross  we  gather  them. 

We  toil  and  stoop  for  love's  sweet  sake, 
To  find  each  worthy  act  a  gem 
In  glory's  kingly  diadem, 
Which  we  may  daily  richer  make." 

Paul  imitated  Christ  in  the  high  standard  which 
he  set  for  human  life  and  character.  It  is  the  glory 
of  our  Christianity  that  Christ  will  not  for  a  moment 
admit  that  we  are  not  capable  of  the  highest  and 
noblest  spiritual  triumphs.  He  will  accept  nothing 
but  our  best.  Ah,  that  is  the  hope  of  the  race. 
These  poor  apologists  that  are  always  making  ex- 
cuses for  humanity,  and  are  saying  that  it  is  a  poor 
thing  and  you  must  not  expect  much  from  it,  are 
but  tallow  dips  compared  to  the  pillar  of  cloud  by 
day  and  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night  that  appeals  to  a 
man,  while  he  is  as  yet  in  the  bondage  of  sin  and 
floundering  in  the  quagmire  of  worldliness,  and  de- 
clares that  he  has  the  power  within  him  to  become,  by 
Christ's  help,  the  accepted  and  honored  son  of  God. 

A  writer  not  long  since  related  a  conversation 
which  he  had  with  a  man  of  national  reputation, 
which  finally  took  a  religious  turn,  and  which  con- 
cluded by  this  great  man  saying,  "  If  we  do  half  as 
well  as  we  know  it  will  be  all  right  in  the  end." 
Just  afterward, the  gentleman  who  relates  the  incident 


90  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

went  to  the  bootblack  stand  in  the  hotel  to  have  his 
shoes  polished.  The  bootblack  was  a  bright  Irish- 
man ;  and,  as  the  gentleman  had  just  heard  what  a 
man  so  near  the  top  of  the  ladder  had  to  say,  he 
thought  he  would  try  the  man  who  was  so  near  the 
bottom.  Reporting  the  speech  he  had  just  heard, 
he  asked,  '' Now,  what  do  you  think  of  that?" 
*'  Think  of  it,  sir  ?  "  the  bootblack  answered.  "Well, 
I  think  if  I  only  cleaned  your  boots  half  as  well  as 
I  know  how  you  would  not  want  to  pay  me  my 
dime  ;  and  if  I  kept  on  the  landlord  would  run  me 
out  of  the  house,  sir.  And  I  don't  like  to  believe 
that  God  Almighty  is  not  the  equal  of  the  boss,  sir." 
Did  not  the  bootblack  have  the  best  of  it } 

Never  thank  any  man  for  being  satisfied  with  less 
than  the  best  you  can  do.  The  moment  you  cease 
to  do  your  best,  that  day  you  begin  to  die.  The 
moment  you  cease  to  do  your  best  and  cease  to  live 
in  that  courageous,  hopeful,  and  triumphant  atmos- 
phere, your  spiritual  vitality  begins  to  lose  its 
healthy  tone,  and  you  are  in  spiritual  danger,  just 
as  the  man  is  in  physical  danger  whose  physical 
vitality  is  at  a  low  ebb.  Any  epidemic  or  fever 
coming  through  the  community  or  any  malaria  that 
lurks  anywhere  about  in  the  air  is  almost  certain  to 
strike  him  down.  So  if  you  begin  to  apologize  for 
yourself,  and  make  excuses  for  doing  halfway  work, 
and  make  compromises  with  yourself  about  that  com- 
plete and  holy  life  which  your  conscience  tells  you 
that  you  are  capable  of  living,  you  are  the  easy  prey 
of  every  enemy  of  your  soul.  It  was  Jean  Paul 
Richter  who  said  these  words  as  he  drew  near  to  the 
end  :  "  I   have   made   of  myself  all   that    could  be 


THE  KEY  TO  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER.  91 

made  out  of  the  stuff."  The  more  you  will  study 
that  sentence,  the  more  marvelous  it  will  seem  to 
you.  Brother,  that  is  what  God  asks  of  you — ''  all 
that  can  be  made  out  of  the  stuff."  We  are  not  to 
measure  ourselves  against  each  other  and  excuse 
ourselves  because  of  each  other's  shortcomings. 
What  a  pitiable,  miserable  thing  that  is  to  do  !  But 
whatever  the  grace  of  God,  whatever  the  tender  fel- 
lowship of  Jesus  Christ,  whatever  the  brooding  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  whatever  the  inspiration  of  Chris- 
tian comradeship,  and  all  other  blessed  and  holy  in- 
fluences with  which  God  visits  the  soul,  can  make 
out  of  this  material  which  he  has  put  in  my  care, 
which  makes  me  what  I  am,  which  is  called  by  my 
name — that  I  am  to  make,  and  that  I  am  to  be  re- 
sponsible for,  and  I  am  to  bring  it  up  at  last  before 
the  great  white  throne  and  give  an  account  for  ''  the 
stuff"  which  was  delivered  to  me  at  the  beginning. 
God  help  us  to  be  faithful  to  the  awful,  but  glori- 
ous, responsibility ! 


92  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


VIII. 

THE  ART  OF  GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 
OF  LIFE. 

"  Gather  up  the  fragments  that  remain,  that  nothing  be  lost." — John 

Vi,    12. 

1  SUPPOSE  there  never  was  a  boy  whose  eyes 
so  stuck  out  with  astonishment  as  that  Httle  lad 
who  saw  his  five  small  barley  loaves  and  two  fishes 
so  multiplied  under  the  blessing  of  the  Master  that 
they  were  enough  to  feed  thousands  of  people  and 
have  many  fragments  left.  Indeed,  the  fragments 
were  of  more  importance  than  were  the  loaves  and 
fishes  at  the  beginning.  But  it  is  neither  the  loaves, 
nor  the  fishes,  nor  the  little  lad,  nor  the  miracle  of 
the  Saviour  in  feeding  a  multitude  with  a  little,  to 
v/hich  I  wish  to  direct  our  thoughts ;  but  rather  to 
impress  upon  our  hearts  the  wisdom  of  gathering 
up  the  fragments  of  life,  so  that  we  may  get  all  the 
rich  treasure  and  comfort  there  is  out  of  it,  and  to 
urge  that  we  shall  not  by  any  carelessness  or  waste- 
fulness on  our  part  let  anything  be  lost. 

These  words  of  Jesus  are  in  harmony  Avith  the  crea- 
tion and  conduct  of  the  whole  universe.  This  world 
in  which  we  live  is  made  up  of  fragments,  every  one 
of  which  finds  its  continuity,  its  consistency  and 
justification,  in  the  eternal  care  of  God.  There  is 
abundance  in  the  world,  in  sunlight  and  snow  and 
rain  ;  and  yet,  after  all,  nothing  is  wasted.  Every- 
thing is  treasured  up  and  used  over  again,  and  again, 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  LIFE.         93 

and  again.  When  it  will  no  longer  do  for  one  pur- 
pose, God  uses  it  for  another.  Ruskin,  in  his  Ethics 
of  the  Dust,  tells  us  how  the  soft,  white  sediments 
of  the  sea,  in  the  course  of  ages,  drew  themselves 
into  knots  of  sphered  symmetry  and  passed  at  last, 
through  pressure  and  heat,  into  the  splendid  marble 
quarries  of  Carrara,  in  Italy — quarries  so  magnificent 
that  when  you  are  passing  by  on  the  train  you  can 
hardly  believe  that  the  great  white  snowdrifts  have 
not  settled  there  between  the  hills. 

All  life  on  our  globe  is  fragmentary  and  held  to- 
gether by  the  heavenly  attraction — the  Fatherly 
care  which  is  over  all.  The  psalmist,  in  the  one 
hundred  and  fourth  Psalm,  sings  the  anthem  of  this 
care  over  individual  things,  and  declares  that  God 
cares  for  the  springs  at  which  the  wild  asses  quench 
their  thirst ;  that  he  causeth  the  grasses  to  grow  for 
the  cattle;  that  he  plants  the  cedars  of  Lebanon, 
and  is  interested  in  the  forest  where  the  birds  build 
their  nests,  and  takes  note  of  the  stork  as  she  builds 
her  home  in  a  particular  kind  of  fir  tree ;  that  he 
does  not  forget  the  high  hills  where  the  wild  goats 
find  refuge,  or  neglect  to  prepare  rocks  under  which 
the  conies  may  hide.  The  young  lions  also  are  the 
children  of  his  providence.  The  wide  sea,  the  earth 
full  of  creeping  beasts,  small  and  great,  as  well  as 
man,  all  wait  upon   God.      As   Christina   Rossetti 

sings  it — 

"  Innocent  eyes  not  ours 

Are  made  to  look  on  flowers, 
Eyes  of  small  birds  and  insects  small ; 

Morn  after  summer  morn, 

The  sweet  rose  on  her  thorn 
Opens  her  bosom  to  them  all. 
7 


94  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

The  least  and  last  of  things, 

That  soar  on  quivering  wings 
Or  crawl  among  the  grass  blades  out  of  sight, 
Have  just  as  clear  a  right 
To  their  appointed  portion  of  delight 

As  queens  or  kings." 

All  this  beautiful  world  is  brought  into  this  har- 
monious beauty  because  of  the  gathering  up  of  the 
fragments  through  divine  carefulness.  It  is  a  very 
hard  lesson  for  many  of  us  to  learn  that  great  things 
are  made  out  of  little  things.  Let  us  think  for  a 
moment  about  certain  kinds  of  fragments  which,  if 
carefully  gathered  up,  make  a  rich  and  precious 
life. 

A  reverent  soul,  dominated  by  a  prayerful  spirit, 
referring  all  questions  naturally  to  the  divine  con- 
trol, trusting  and  relying  upon  divine  support  and 
comfort  in  every  hour  of  need — such  a  personality, 
for  instance,  is  made  by  gathering  up  the  momentary 
privileges  and  opportunities  of  prayer.  That  is  what 
Paul  meant  when  he  said  we  should  pray  always, 
without  ceasing.  It  is  not  that  one  should  make 
long  prayers  at  any  one  time,  but  that  the  momen- 
tary opportunities  and  privileges  of  life  should  be 
carefully  treasured  for  divine  meditation  and  com- 
munion. We  have  noticed  some  people  in  public 
service,  in  prayer  meetings  and  other  places,  who 
seemed  to  have  a  disposition  to  pray  always,  with- 
out stopping,  when  they  got  started,  and  whose 
prayers  did  not  seem  to  be  any  great  pleasure  to 
themselves  or  anybody  else.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  the  individual  to  whom  prayer  always 
seems  to  come  natural,  about  whom  there  is  a  cer- 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  LIFE.         95 

tain  spontaneity  of  devotional  spirit.  His  prayers 
bring  blessings  down  upon  all  who  listen  to  them, 
and  there  is  about  them  a  kind  of  heavenly  conta- 
gion that  draws  listening  souls  heavenward. 

The  prayers  of  the  Bible  are  all  short.  None  of 
them  would  take  half  as  long  to  utter  as  many  of 
the  public  prayers  to  which  we  listen.  The  prayer 
of  King  Hezekiah  for  Jerusalem  consists  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four  words  and  would  require, 
if  uttered  at  an  ordinary  rate  of  speed,  about  one 
minute.  At  the  time  of  Hezekiah's  offering  this 
prayer  the  city  of  Jerusalem  was  surrounded  by  the 
Assyrian  army,  led  by  Sennacherib.  Hezekiah  was 
in  a  great  emergency  and  had  no  hope  of  deliver- 
ance except  from  God  ;  but  that  one-minute  prayer 
settled  the  whole  matter.  The  Lord  sent  his  angel 
into  the  camp  of  the  Assyrian,  and  in  one  night  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  were  smitten  with 
death.  Let  Lord  Byron  sing  their  requiem  in  his 
oft-quoted  lines  : 

"  The  Assyrian  came  down  like  the  wolf  on  the  fold, 
And  his  cohorts  were  gleaming  in  purple  and  gold  ; 
And  the  sheen  of  their  spears  was  like  stars  on  the  sea, 
When  the  blue  wave  rolls  nightly  on  deep  Galilee. 

"  Like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  when  summer  is  green, 
That  host  with  their  banners  at  sunset  were  seen  ; 
Like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  when  autumn  hath  blown, 
That  host  on  the  morrow  lay  withered  and  strown, 

"  For  the  Angel  of  Death  spread  his  wings  on  the  blast, 
And  breathed  in  the  face  of  the  foe  as  he  passed  ; 
And  the  eyes  of  the  sleepers  waxed  deadly  and  chill, 
And  their  hearts  but  once  heaved,  and  forever  grew  still  I 


96  THE  CHRIST  DREAM, 

"  And  there  lay  the  steed  with  his  nostril  all  wide, 
But  through  it  there  rolled  not  the  breath  of  his  pride ; 
And  the  foam  of  his  gasping  lay  white  on  the  turf, 
And  cold  as  the  spray  of  the  rock-beating  surf. 

"  And  there  lay  the  rider,  distorted  and  pale, 
With  the  dew  on  his  brow  and  the  rust  on  his  mail ; 
And  the  tents  were  all  silent,  the  banners  alone, 
The  lances  unlifted,  the  trumpets  unblown. 

"  And  the  widows  of  Ashur  are  loud  in  their  wail ; 
And  the  idols  are  broke  in  the  temple  of  Baal ; 
And  the  might  of  the  Gentile,  unsmote  by  the  sword, 
Hath  melted  like  snow  in  the  glance  of  the  Lord  ! " 

Character  is  built  of  fragments.  A  good  character 
is  often  compared  in  the  Bible  to  gold  ;  but  the 
golden  coin  is  composed  of  almost  infinitely  small 
fragments.  A  watch  case  manufactory,  which  for 
nineteen  years  had  occupied  the  same  building  in 
New  York  city,  moved  recently  into  new  quarters. 
Knowing  how  easily  gold  wears  and  rubs,  especially 
as  it  is  handled  by  workmen,  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  firm  to  save  every  bit  of  dust  and  all  of  the 
sweepings  of  the  three  floors  they  occupied  and  ex- 
tract the  bits  of  gold  lost  in  the  rubbish.  Although 
this  process  was  quite  expensive,  it  paid  very  well. 
When  the  manufactory  was  moved  the  firm  took  up 
all  the  boards  on  the  three  floors,  in  order  to  save 
the  gold  dust  that  had  not  been  gathered  up  in  the 
sweepings.  The  boards  were  of  ordinary  pine,  and 
were  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the  gold  was  extracted 
therefrom  by  a  chemical  process.  Several  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  gold  was  found.  Although  every 
possible  precaution  had  been  taken,  a  very  large 
number  of  fine  particles  of  gold  had  been  ground 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  LIFE.         97 

into  the  cracks  and  grains  of  the  wood.  Two  or 
three  years  ago  a  treasure  train  brought  several  mil- 
Hon  dollars  in  gold  from  San  Francisco  to  New 
York.  When  the  money  was  counted  it  was  found 
to  be  all  right,  as  far  as  the  number  of  coins  went, 
but  in  that  journey  the  rubbing  together  of  the 
coins  caused  the  loss  of  two  thousand  dollars.  In 
this  case  it  was  a  total  loss,  for  the  particles  were  so 
very  fine  that  they  could  never  be  recovered. 

Let  us  learn  the  lesson.  Our  characters  are  be- 
ing formed  by  the  addition  of  small  particles  of 
spiritual  gold  day  by  day.  Single  deeds  of  self- 
denial  ;  momentary  acts  of  sympathy  and  mercy ; 
secret  struggles  against  temptation  ;  unknown  bat- 
tles that  are  never  glorified  in  the  public  prints  ; 
hours  of  secret  communion  with  the  Master  ;  times 
of  loneliness  and  sorrow  when  meditations  on  the 
law  of  God  grow  sweet  ;  burdens  carried  for  the 
weak  and  helpless,  that  none  know  of  save  God  ; 
times  of  bitter  trial  when  one's  arms  cling;  about 
the  cross  for  very  life — these  are  the  kind  of  frag- 
ments out  of  which  a  noble  character  is  fashioned 
and  molded  into  strength  and  beauty.  Let  us 
gather  up  all  such  fragments,  that  nothing  be  lost. 

The  work  of  life  is  made  up  of  fragments — mo- 
ments, hours,  days.  General  Booth,  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army,  has  given  a  great  lesson,  in  the  result 
of  his  recent  tour  in  this  country,  to  people  who 
are  always  dreaming  of  great  things  they  would  like 
to  do  and  yet  are  doing  nothing.  General  Booth 
is  sixty-five  years  of  age.  If  he  had  been  a  general 
in  the  United  States  Army  he  would  have  been  re- 
tired a  year  ago.     But  during  his  five  months'  stay 


98  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

on  this  side  of  the  ocean  he  has  averaged  two 
meetings  a  day,  speaking  on  an  average  one  hour 
at  each  meeting.  He  has  preached  the  Gospel  in 
eighty-six  different  cities,  giving  three  hundred  and 
forty-three  sermons.  His  audiences  have  aggre. 
gated  nearly  half  a  million  people,  and  there  have 
been  many  hundreds  of  conversions.  In  addition, 
he  has  been  interviewed  every  day,  he  has  written 
largely  for  the  newspapers,  and  given  great  atten- 
tion to  the  executive  duties  connected  with  the 
great  army  of  which  he  is  the  head.  Perhaps  no 
man  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  race  traveled 
eighteen  thousand  miles,  preached  three  hundred 
and  forty-three  sermons  to  half  a  million  of  people, 
was  the  cause  of  so  many  persons  being  converted  to 
God,  and  attracted  so  much  attention  to  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ — all  in  five  months.  It  was  accom- 
plished by  caring  for  the  fragments.  No  time  was 
wasted  ;  everything  was  looked  after  with  military 
precision  ;  every  fragment  was  worked  into  its 
place.  People  who  work  in  that  way  can  always 
perform  miracles  in  comparison  with  the  helter- 
skelter  work  of  other  people. 

''  Uncle  John  Vassar  "  was  that  sort  of  man,  who 
never  let  a  fragment  of  an  opportunity  of  witness- 
ing for  Christ  go  to  waste.  He  came  into  a  hotel 
in  Boston  one  day,  looking  for  a  friend.  Seeing 
that  his  friend  had  not  yet  arrived  and  that  he 
would  have  to  wait,  he  determined  not  to  waste 
the  time,  but  went  directly  up  to  two  fashionably 
dressed  ladies  who  were  sitting  in  the  parlor.  He 
said  to  one  of  them,  ''  Excuse  me,  madam,  are  you 
a   Christian?"     She   said,  "  Of  course."      He  said: 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  LIFE.         99 

"  I  didn't  mean  that  kind  of  Christian.  Have  you 
been  born  again  ?  " 

'*  Why,  no ;  we  have  gotten  over  that  in  Boston  ; 
we  do  not  beHeve  in  being  born  again  any  more." 

''  Have  you  gotten  all  over  the  Bible  in  Boston, 
or  do  you  believe  that  some  more?  " 

"  O,  yes,  we  beHeve  the  Bible,  of  course." 

*'  Will  you  let  me  read  it  to  you  ?  " 

And  he  took  his  Bible  and  began  to  pour  the 
word  of  God  into  her  heart,  until  her  soul  burned 
within  her  and  the  tears  came  into  her  eyes.  His 
friend  came  and  he  had  to  go  ;  but  he  said,  *'  Be- 
fore I  go  may  I  pray  with  you  ?  "  She  answered, 
*'  I  wish  you  would."  He  knelt  down  and  asked 
God  to  save  her  then  and  there.  Her  husband 
came  in  afterward,  and,  seeing  signs  of  tears  in  her 
eyes,  he  asked,  **  What  is  the  matter?"  She  said  : 
*'  There  has  been  a  strange  little  man  here.  He 
came  up  to  me  and  asked  me  if  I  was  a  Christian — 
if  I  had  been  born  again  ;  and  then  he  preached  to 
me  and  read  the  Bible.  And,  husband,  I  never  in 
my  life  felt  as  I  feel  now." 

He  said,  "  Why  didn't  you  tell  him  it  was  none 
of  his  business?" 

She  said,  ''  Dear,  if  you  had  been  here,  you 
would  have  thought  it  was  his  business."  It  is  the 
men  and  women  who  gather  up  the  fragments  of 
opportunity  like  that  who  make  glorious  records  in 
Christian  work.  Though  you  are  so  little  that  you 
feel  you  are  only  a  fragment,  if  you  will  give  the 
fragment  to  God,  he  will  fit  it  into  its  own  place 
where  it  will  be  more  valuable  than  anything  else  in 
the  world  in  that  place. 


100  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Robert  Browning  tells  an  old  legend  in  his  poem, 
*'  The  Boy  and  the  Angel."  The  boy,  working  at 
his  trade,  and  thus  praising  God  with  his  faithful 
work  and  life,  wins  the  heart  of  the  angel,  who 
helps  the  boy  to  realize  his  desire  to  praise  God,  as 
he  imagines,  in  a  more  splendid  way,  as  a  pope. 
That  the  boy's  work  as  he  becomes  priest  and  pope 
may  not  be  left  undone,  the  angel  takes  the  boy's 
place  at  the  workbench.  But  he  soon  finds  that  not 
even  an  angel  can  fill  a  boy's  place  and  give  God  the 
praise  of  the  boy's  faithful  work.  And  so  there 
came  to  Rome  another  pope,  and  the  boy  went 
back  to  his  bench  to  give  the  praise  without  which 
heaven's  music  was  not  complete.  There  is  a  vein 
of  everlasting  truth  in  the  old  legend.  We  may  be 
only  a  fragment  in  God's  universe,  but  that  frag- 
ment is  a  special  study  of  the  Creator.  You  are  the 
child  of  your  heavenly  Father,  and  if  you  do  your 
duty  faithfully  you  shall  not  be  forgotten  of  him. 

*'  Only  a  tiny  candle 

Lit  by  him, 
Not  lost,  though  he  has  many 

Lamps  to  trim. 

"  Only  an  earthen  vessel 

Used  to-day, 
Although  in  the  Master's  pathway 

Gold  ones  lay. 

"  Only  a  cup  of  water 

Given  in  love ; 
But  the  Saviour  saw  and  owned  it 

From  above. 

"  Only  the  world's  derision 

Meekly  borne, 
Yet  he  notes  the  word,  the  action, 

Done  in  scorn. 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  LIFE.        101 

"  Only  a  little  service 

By  the  way ; 
He'll  reward  the  smallest  effort 

'  In  that  day.' 

"  Only  following-  Jesus 

To  the  end ; 
And  then  his  promised  glory 

He  will  send." 

If  there  are  any  here  who  are  not  Christians,  I 
want  to  bring  God's  message  to  you  in  this  scrip- 
ture we  are  studying,  and  entreat  you  that  you  will 
gather  up  the  fragments  of  time  and  opportunity 
that  still  remain  and  not  let  one  of  them  be  lost. 
Remember  that  it  is  only  in  the  consciousness 
of  divine  forgiveness  and  love  that  real  peace 
and  happiness  can  be  found.  I  have  been  reading 
this  last  week,  as  doubtless  many  of  you  have, 
a  very  pathetic  speech  by  Prince  Bismarck,  in  which 
he  says  :  ''  When  I  reckon  my  few  minutes  of  real 
happiness  I  am  hardly  able  to  make  twenty-four 
hours.  In  politics  I  never  gained  enough  rest  to  be 
happy."  What  a  wonderful  confession  there  is  in 
those  few  words  of  the  hollowness  of  all  mere  earthly 
glory  and  success,  and  how  idle  to  expect  the  world 
to  give  genuine  happiness  and  peace  to  the  soul  ! 
One  fragment  of  the  Master's  precious  words,  like, 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,"  is  worth  more  than 
all  the  political  glory  and  renown  in  the  world  to 
give  abiding  peace  to  the  soul.  Gather  up  the  frag- 
ments that  remain  to  you.  You  have  wasted  many 
opportunities,  many  privileges  are  beyond  your 
reach  ;  but  there  is  left  this  fragmentary  hour 
when,  if  you  will,  you  may  find  salvation. 


102  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


IX. 
HEARTSTRINGS  AND  THEIR  MELODY. 

*'  There  went  with  him  a  band  of  men,  whose  hearts  God  had  touched." 
— I  Sam.  X,  26. 

TO  move  men  to  action  immediate  and  earnest 
you  need  only  to  arouse  their  hearts.  The 
heart  it  is  that  furnishes  life  to  all  the  body.  The 
relation  of  the  heart  to  a  human  life  is  like  the  rela- 
tion of  a  great  city  to  a  State.  Out  from  the  city 
run  railroad  lines  and  telegraph  and  telephone  lines, 
commercial  and  intellectual  arteries  through  which 
flows  the  blood  to  sustain  and  carry  on  civilization 
to  the  remotest  boundary.  The  heart  is  like  that. 
It  is  the  center  of  human  action.  The  appeal  of  the 
Bible  is  to  the  heart.  There  are  many  accidents  of 
time  and  place  and  position  ;  but  after  all  as  a  man 
*'  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he." 

There  is  no  musical  instrument  in  the  world  so 
sensitive  as  the  human  heart,  and  none  that  is  open 
to  such  a  diversity  of  influence.  How  many  are  the 
players  who  touch  our  hearts  !  Sometimes  anger 
touches  them,  and  the  tones  which  are  evoked  are 
coarse  and  full  of  discord  ;  sometimes  sorrow  touches 
them,  and  they  wail  forth  a  uiiserere  so  tender  and 
sad  that  it  only  finds  its  appropriate  echo  in  tears. 
Satan  plays  on  many  a  heart ;  but  the  heart  does 
not  belong  to  him.  He  is  an  invader  and  an  enemy, 
and  his  touch  can  only  produce  discord.     Nothing 


HEARTSTRINGS  AND  THEIR  MELODY.  103 

but  the  touch  of  God  can  bring  forth  perfect  music 
from  the  human  heart.  Let  us  bring  our  hearts  be- 
fore the  Lord  and  cry  with  the  poet : 

"  I  kneel  before  thine  altar,  Lord,  and  fain  a  gift  would  bring, 
But  all  I  have  is  worthless  and  unfit  for  offering ; 
A  foolish  heart,  a  foolish  dream,  a  foolish,  fruitless  pain — 
Such  are  my  all ;  O  Love  of  love,  do  not  the  gift  disdain. 

"And  even  as  earthly  monarchs  do,  who  take  the  tribute  given, 
And  quick  restore  by  royal  grace,  increased  to  seven  times  seven, 
So  take,  O  Lord,  my  offering,  and  vouchsafe  me  presently, 
For  emptiness,  thy  fullness;  for  my  hunger,  thy  supply. 

"  I  lay  my  heart  down  at  thy  feet,  that  tired  heart  and  old, 
Whose  youthful  throb  has  grown  so  faint,  whose  youthful  fire 

so  cold. 
Heart  of  the  world's  heart.  Lord  of  joy,  and  mighty  Lord  of 

pain. 
Take  thou  the  gift,  and  quicken  it,  and  give  it  back  again. 

"  My  foolish  dream,  so  dear,  so  prized,  baptized  in  many  tears. 
Loved,  even  as  sickly  children  are,  the  more  for  doubts  and 
fears, 

0  Lord,  whose  word  is  faithfulness,  eternal  to  endure. 

Take  it ;  and  give  me  in  its  stead  the  hope  that  standeth  sure. 

"  The  pain  that  heart  was  baffled  with,  which  could  not  bear  to 
die, 

And,  stilled  by  day,  would  stir  by  night,  and  wake  me  with  its 
cry. 

That  pain  so  close,  so  intimate,  that  death  could  scarce  de- 
stroy, 

1  leave  it,  Lord,  before  thy  feet  -,  give  me  instead  thy  joy. 

"All  empty-handed  came  I  in  ;  full-handed  forth  I  go. 
Go  thou  beside  me.  Lord  of  grace,  and  keep  me  ever  so. 
Thanks  are  poor  things  for  such  wide  good  ;  but  all  my  life  is 

thine ; 
Thou  who  hast  turned    my  stones  to  bread,   my  water  into 

wine." 


104  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Let  us  study  briefly  the  fruits  of  God's  touch  upon 
human  hearts. 

The  first  result  is  sympathy.  We  may  see  that 
illustrated  in  the  incidents  surrounding  our  text. 
Saul  had  been  selected  by  the  prophet,  under  God's 
direction,  to  be  king  over  Israel.  He  was  a  bashful, 
young,  timid  fellow,  and  when  the  prophet  wanted  to 
introduce  him  to  the  people  as  their  king  he  was 
not  to  be  found,  until  after  long  search  they  discov- 
ered him  hidden  away  among  the  pack  saddles  and 
"stuff,"  as  the  Scripture  record  gives  it,  of  the  en- 
campment. And  when  they  had  brought  him  forth 
to  receive  his  crow^n  and  he  stood  up  there  before 
them,  head  and  shoulders  taller  than  everybody  else, 
looking  every  inch  a  king,  bashful  though  he  was, 
they  cheered  him  with  admiration  and  pride.  And 
when  the  people  were  disbanded  to  go  to  their 
homes,  and  Saul  also  started  on  his  journey,  there 
were  many  men  in  the  company  whose  hearts  God  so 
touched  in  sympathy  with  the  young  king  that  they 
went  up  with  him  to  protect  him  and  defend  him. 
What  we  need  to-day,  above  everything  else,  is  that 
the  great  heart  of  mankind  shall  be  touched  into  sym- 
pathy and  fellowship.  We  need  this  continual 
touch  of  God  in  the  Church,  that  its  refreshing 
streams  of  sympathy  may  never  dry  up.  No  formal 
religion  can  ever  take  the  place  of  warm-hearted, 
brotherly  kindness. 

In  1878  a  party  of  Americans  made  a  journey  up 
the  Nile,  and  afterward  traveled  through  Egypt, 
Arabia,  and  Syria.  When  they  were  at  Cairo  pre- 
paring to  cross  the  desert,  each  of  the  party  bought 
some    water   vessels.     One    found    in    the    bazaar 


HEARTSTRINGS  AND  THEIR  MELODY.  105 

beaten  jars  of  brass,  whose  fine  designs  attracted 
him  ;  another  bought  some  painted  porcelain  vessels 
of  great  beauty ;  while  a  third  came  back  with 
coarse  earthen  bottles  at  which  the  others  laughed. 
"  Wait  until  the  end  of  the  journey,"  he  said.  The 
way  across  the  desert  was  long  and  wearisome  ;  the 
heat  was  intense  ;  some  of  the  camels  fell  sick ;  and 
hence  the  distance  between  the  stopping  places  re- 
quired more  time  than  usual.  Every  drop  of  water 
was  of  value.  The  glittering  brass  vessels  soon 
proved  useless,  as  the  water  in  them  was  heated  and 
became  impure  and  poisonous.  The  fine  porcelain 
jugs  cracked  in  the  fierce  heat  of  the  sun,  and  the 
water  was  lost.  Both  the  brass  and  porcelain  ves- 
sels were  thrown  away  as  valueless ;  but  the  plain 
earthen  bottles,  being  porous  and  unadorned,  kept 
the  water  comparatively  cool  and  pure  until  the  end 
of  the  journey.  "  It  was  not  vases  for  ornaments  that 
were  needed,"  said  the  guide,  "  only  a  vessel  that 
would  carry  water."  So  if  we  are  to  bless  the  world 
constantly  by  the  warmth  of  our  sympathy,  the  good 
cheer  of  our  brotherly  fellowship,  we  do  not  want 
to  smother  our  faith  and  hope  and  love  under  dec- 
orated forms  or  incase  our  Christian  graces  in  a 
bigotry  as  hard  and  unbending  as  brass;  but,  rather, 
we  want  to  carry  God's  love  into  hearts  so  humble 
that  it  shall  become  in  them  a  "  well  of  water, 
springing  up  unto  everlasting  life." 

No  one  can  micasure  the  power  of  a  genuine  ex- 
hibition of  brotherly  sympathy.  At  the  battle  of 
Fair  Oaks,  on  June  I,  1862,  General  Oliver  O.  How- 
ard had  his  arm  shot  off  on  the  battlefield.  As  he 
was  making  his  way  to  the  hospital,  weak  from  loss 


lOo  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

of  blood  and  pain,  he  saw  a  young  man  intoxicated. 
He  was  so  under  the  influence  of  whisky  that  he 
could  hardly  walk.  As  the  general  came  near  him, 
he  forgot  the  awful  pain  that  was  racking  his  body, 
and  his  own  desperate  condition,  and  his  heart  went 
out  in  sympathy  for  this  poor  drunken  young  lad  ; 
and  he  stopped  long  enough  to  tell  him  that  it  did 
not  pay  to  drink,  that  it  would  ruin  him,  and  how 
much  better  it  would  be  to  stop  before  the  habit 
had  control  of  him.  General  Howard  passed  on  to 
the  hospital,  had  his  arm  amputated,  and  was  sent 
home  to  recover.  He  learned  nothing  more  of  the 
drunken  soldier  for  a  great  many  years,  when  one 
day  a  letter  came  to  him  from  Washington  city 
which  told  him  his  subsequent  history.  The  poor 
fellow,  drunk  as  he  was,  was  so  impressed  by  the 
fact  that  the  general,  in  his  wounded  condition,  had 
taken  enough  interest  in  him  to  stop  and  give  him 
advice,  that  he  had  then  and  there  resolved  to  quit 
drinking.  He  kept  his  resolution  and  when  the 
war  was  over  settled  down  to  a  life  of  steady,  hon- 
est, hard  work.  He  gradually  rose,  and  became 
finally  a  judge  on  the  supreme  bench  of  the  State 
of  New  Hampshire  and  one  of  the  foremost  men  in 
the  Commonwealth.  And  he  no  doubt  owed  it  all 
to  the  fact  that  this  great-hearted  Christian  soldier 
had  paused  to  pour  on  him  the  wealth  of  his  Chris- 
tian sympathy. 

Victor  Hugo  says  that  whenever  it  is  necessary 
we  must  sacrifice  for  our  brother,  no  matter  how 
lowly  his  condition,  our  gold,  and  our  blood  which 
is  more  than  our  gold,  and  our  thought  which  is 
more   than  our  blood,  and   our  love  which  is  more 


HEARTSTRINGS  AND  THEIR  MELODY.  107 

than  our  thought.  And  we  are  sure  that  this  is  the 
spirit  in  which  St.  Paul  Hved  when  we  hear  him  say- 
ing :  "  For  though  I  was  free  from  all  men,  I 
brought  myself  under  bondage  to  all,  that  I  might 
gain  the  more.  And  to  the  Jews  I  became  as  a 
Jew,  that  I  might  gain  Jews  ;  to  them  that  are 
under  the  law,  as  under  the  law,  not  being  myself 
under  the  law,  that  I  might  gain  them  that  are  under 
the  law ;  to  them  that  are  without  law,  as  without 
law,  not  being  without  law  to  God,  but  under  law  to 
Christ,  that  I  might  gain  them  that  are  without  law. 
To  the  weak  I  became  weak,  that  I  might  gain  the 
weak  :  I  am  become  all  things  to  all  men,  that  I  may 
by  all  means  save  some."  Paul  states  the  supreme 
law  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  to  be,  ''  Remember 
them  that  are  in  bonds,  as  bound  with  them."  How 
the  old  earth  would  blossom  as  the  rose  if  all  our 
hearts  were  touched  into  that  Christly  sympathy  ! 
Another  result  of  God's  touch  upon  the  human 
heart  is  that  he  establishes  it  in  courage — not  a 
brutal,  stoical  courage,  but  the  quieter,  sublimer 
courage  of  confidence  and  faith.  Bishop  Potter,  of 
New  York  city,  relates  a  most  striking  incident 
which  occurred  when  he  was  traveling  some  years 
ago  in  southern  Florida.  There  was  a  man  in  the 
car  who  represented  the  great  lottery  system  of 
Louisiana,  which  was  then  at  the  height  of  its  in- 
famous power  and  held  the  government  of  Louisiana 
in  its  iron  grasp.  This  man  was  a  very  important 
personage  in  his  own  eyes.  He  had  taken  the 
drawing-room  on  the  car,  and  something  about  the 
room  gave  him  offense.  He  summoned  the  col- 
ored porter  and,  after  addressing  him  in  the  most 


108  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

vulgar  and  profane  manner,  sent  for  the  conductor. 
There  was  obviously  no  grievance  in  th@.  case  ;  the 
man  had  lost  his  temper,  was  irritable  and  un- 
reasonable from  last  night's  debauch,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, his  language  to  the  conductor  was  more 
brutal  and  more  insolent  and  unwarranted  than 
to  the  porter.  The  bishop  sat  through  it  all,  and 
was  conscious  of  sensations  tingling  at  the  tips  of 
his  fingers  that  were  entirely  unepiscopal  and  which, 
to  use  his  own  words,  "  if  they  could  have  found 
expression  at  the  moment,  would  have  landed  me 
in  eternal  disgrace."  The  conductor,  who  was  a 
young  man,  a  generous  type  of  the  Southerner, 
came  to  the  bishop  when  it  was  all  over  and  said, 
"  I  beg  your  pardon,  but  you  have  seen  what  has 
happened  ?  "  "  Yes,"  the  bishop  replied,  *'  and  if 
you  want  to  refer  to  me  have  no  hesitation  about 
doing  so.  I  want  to  congratulate  you  on  the  spirit 
you  have  shown,  and  thank  you  for  an  exhibition 
of  good  manners  in  the  face  of  the  boor  who 
insulted  you  every  time  he  spoke,  and  to  felicitate 
you  for  the  dignity  with  which  you  have  borne 
this."  "  O,  sir,"  the  young  man  replied,  "  when  a 
man  has  come  to  learn  how  his  Master  controlled 
himself  he  ought  to  be  ashamed  not  to  be  able  to 
illustrate  at  least  an  equal  control  under  less  pain- 
ful and  trying  circumstances."  Bishop  Potter  de- 
clares that  that  was  the  finest  testimony  to  the 
power  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  to  which  he 
had  ever  been  privileged  to  listen.  That  young 
man  was  a  hero.  It  took  more  courage  to  do  what 
he  did  than  to  march  up  to  the  cannon's  mouth  in 
the  midst  of  battle.     What  a  glorious  thing  it  is  to 


HEARTSTRINGS  AND  THEIR  MELODY.  109 

live  under  the  spell  of  that  divine  leadership  where 
such  sublime  courage  is  born  of  the  hope  and  faith 
and  love  which  are  the  atmosphere  of  one 's  daily  life  ! 

The  supreme  result  of  God's  touch  on  our  hearts 
is  self-denial.  The  law  of  the  Christian  life  is  pro- 
claimed in  the  Master's  words,  that  he  that  loses 
his  life  shall  find  it,  and  he  that  keepeth  his  life 
shall  lose  it  ;  upon  which  Dr.  Brooke  Herford  com- 
ments that  the  highest,  sweetest  zeal  of  life  is  not 
in  what  we  do  in  thinking  of  self,  but  in  what  we  do 
for  others,  forgetting  self.  It  is  so  even  while  in 
the  doing.  How  much  more  afterward  !  Life 
passes  on  ;  years  wane  ;  strength  fails ;  the  shows 
and  vanities  and  delusions  of  life  wither  and  fall, 
like  autumn  leaves.  The  only  things  that  do  not 
fade  are  those  we  do  in  simple,  self-forgetting  lov- 
ing-kindness to  our  fellow-men  or  in  self-forgetting 
thanksgiving  to  God. 

This  self-forgetfulness  is  the  true  philosophy  of 
the  Christian  life.  No  doubt  some  of  you  feel  like 
saying,  "Ah  !  that  perfect  unselfishness  is  beyond 
my  reach;  I  cannot  forget  myself  so  entirely  as 
Christ  seems  to  put  it."  But  have  you  begun 
rightly  to  undertake  it  ?  You  do  not  send  your 
boy  to  the  high  school  before  he  has  gone  to  the 
grammar  school  or  to  the  primary.  So  we  are  put 
to  school  in  this  Christian  life  on  earth.  Enter  upon 
it  in  this  spirit,  think  of  others,  give  up  your  wish 
for  others,  help  others,  be  kind  to  others  in  every 
way  you  can,  and  every  such  thought  and  care  and 
kindness  in  which  you  unawares  rise  into  this  forget- 
fulness  of  self  will  be  a  lifting  up  of  your  life  and 
make  it  more  worth  living. 


110  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

You  ought  not  to  think  that  Christ's  teachings 
are  not  practicable  for  this  world  and  for  your  life, 
because  you  cannot  rise  above  mistakes  and  blun- 
ders and  practice  them  perfectly  all  at  once.  What 
is  there  in  the  world  that  is  worth  doing  that  you 
can  do  perfectly  all  at  once  ?  But  you  may  depend 
upon  it  that  these  plain,  heart-searching  teachings 
of  Jesus  Christ,  which  call  for  self-denial  and  self- 
forgetfulness,  are  the  true  light  of  life,  and  their  way 
is  the  way  of  all  blessing  ;  and  if  you  will  live  that 
way,  if  you  will  live  toward  them,  the  more  you  do 
so  the  more  they  will  bless  you.  Be  Christ's 
disciple  in  the  way  of  self-denial,  and,  though  it 
may  begin  with  a  cross,  it  will  end  with  a  crown. 
You  may  have  to  begin  with  some  pain  of  self- 
denial  ;  but  you  will  end  in  the  quiet  joy  of  self- 
forgetfulness.  And  more  and  more  you  will  grow 
into  that  higher  life  in  which  our  hearts  go  out  lov- 
ingly to  our  fellow-men,  and  out  toward  all  the 
beauty  and  glory  of  the  world,  and  up  toward  God 
and  toward  that  life  which  whoso  lives  with  him 
shall  live  forever! 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  Ill 


X. 

THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE. 

"  Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith,  lay  hold  on  eternal  life." — i  Tim.  vi,  12. 

PROFESSOR  HENRY  DRUMMOND,  in  his 
Lowell  lectures  on  The  Ascent  of  Man,  deliv- 
ered in  Boston  and  now  published  in  book  form, 
discusses  \vith  great  courage  and  clearness  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  evolutionist  the  struggle  for 
life.  It  is  not  either  to  criticise  or  to  imitate  him 
that  I  take  my  theme  from  his  hands,  but  to  follow 
a  line  of  practical  inquiry  into  that  present  strug- 
gle for  life  with  which  every  one  of  us  has  to  do. 
For  the  phrase  "  struggle  for  life  "  is  certainly  an 
apt  description  of  the  earthly  experience  of  every 
human  soul. 

Dr.  Drummond  declares  that  the  great  alHes  of 
progress  in  human  life  are  want  and  hunger,  that 
"the  inertia  of  things  is  such  that  without  compul- 
sion they  will  never  move."  He  compares  the  ev- 
olution of  man  to  the  experience  of  the  little  bird  in 
the  city  park,  whose  day  is  spent  in  struggling  to 
get  a  living.  It  awakes  at  daybreak  and  sets  out  to 
catch  its  morning  meal ;  but  another  bird  has  been 
awake  before  it  and  it  has  lost  its  chance.  With 
fifty  other  breakfastless  birds  it  has  to  bide  its  time, 
to  scour  the  country,  to  prospect  the  trees,  the 
grass,  the  ground,  to  lie  in  ambush  ;  to  attack  and 


112  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

be  defeated,  to  hope  and  be  forestalled.  At  every 
meal  the  same  program  is  gone  through,  and  every 
day.  As  the  seasons  change  the  pressure  becomes 
more  keen,  its  supplies  are  exhausted,  and  it  has  to 
'take  wing  for  hundreds  and  thousands  of  miles  to 
find  new  hunting  ground.  This  is  how  birds  live  ; 
and  this,  he  declares,  is  how  birds  are  made.  They 
are  the  children  of  struggle.  Beak  and  limb,  claw 
and  wing,  shape,  strength — all,  down  to  the  last  de- 
tail, are  the  expressions  of  tlieir  mode  of  life. 

But  it  is  more  to  our  purpose  to  pursue  the  strug- 
gle for  life  on  Paul's  lines,  who  deals  with  the  story 
of  the  later  evolution,  where  man  is  not  so  much 
goaded  on  by  need  as  he  is  lured  on  by  visions  of 
glory — or,  as  Drummond  would  put  it,  "  those  high 
incitements  of  conscious  ideals  which  completed 
the  work  of  creating  him  a  man." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  life  was  intended 
by  the  Almighty  to  be  a  struggle,  and  that  the  dis- 
cipline of  toil,  and  even  of  drudger}^  if  you  will,  is 
a  very  beneficent  influence  upon  human  character. 
A  great  many  people  make  the  common  and  easy 
mistake  of  supposing  that  there  are  some  favored 
professions  and  avocations  where  great  success  may 
be  won  without  painful  toil  and  prosaic,  uninterest- 
ing drudgery;  but  it  is  probably  true  that  there  is 
as  much  of  uninviting  detail  work  forced  into  the 
career  of  those  who  are  supposed  to  be  great 
geniuses,  as  there  is  into  the  most  common  and 
sordid  employments.  The  multitude  of  people  who 
look  upon  a  beautiful  picture  or  listen  to  a  great 
musician  or  read  a  poem  that  stirs  the  soul  suppose 
that,  because  it   is  a   work   of  genius,  it  therefore 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  113 

came  easily  and  without  cost.  The  long  days  and 
nights  of  weary  toil  by  which  the  painter  learned 
how  to  mix  his  paints  and  oils,  the  weeks  and 
months  of  study,  that  seemed  to  him  to  be  of 
no  value,  by  which  his  eye  was  trained  in  perspec- 
tive— all  this  and  many  other  things  are  unknown 
to  those  who  look  on  the  picture  as  a  finished  work 
of  art.  Goethe  declared  that  "genius  is  but  the 
ability  for  hard  work,"  which,  though  an  extreme 
assertion,  is  true  to  the  extent  that  success  is  not 
possible  to  genius  w^ithout  hard  work.  Life  means 
struggle.  Every  young  man — and  young  woman  as 
well — should  understand  that;  and,  unless  they  are 
willing  to  pay  that  price,  all  hope  of  real  success 
may  as  well  be  abandoned. 

This  is  true  on  the  lowest  plane,  as  well  as  on  the 
highest.  Some  two  years  ago,  when  our  two  most 
notorious  American  brutes  had  their  disgraceful 
fight  in  New  Orleans  and  one  of  them,  who  had 
been  supposed  for  some  time  to  be  the  strongest 
man  physically  in  the  world,  was  overcome  and 
whimpered  in  his  mortification  that  it  was  ''  booze 
that  knocked  him  out,"  one  of  the  daily  newspapers 
quoted  a  group  of  rough  boys  Avho  were  discussing 
the  encounter.  One  of  them  was  heard  to  say  this 
— the  language  is  rude,  but  it  shows  that  even  hood- 
lums of  the  street  understand  that  the  penalty  of 
success  must  be  paid  for  at  a  just  price — "  Well, 
fellers,  de  great  mill  is  over,  and  Sully's  knocked 
out !  Well,  it  only  goes  to  show  dat  a  man  can't 
be  champeen  soak  and  champeen  fighter  at  de  same 
time."  This  boy  had  hold  of  the  key  which  could 
unlock  to  us  the  cause  of  many  other  failures  along 


114  THE  CHRIST  DREAM, 

higher  Hnes,  for  there  is  such  a  thing  as  intellec- 
tual and  moral  dissipation,  as  well  as  physical. 
There  may  be  many  things  we  can  do  without,  but 
the  stern  discipline  and  struggle  of  life,  which 
makes  self-reliant  men  and  women  of  us,  is  not  in 
the  catalogue. 

A  visitor  to  a  famous  pottery  establishment  was 
puzzled  by  an  operation  which  seemed  aimless.  In 
one  room  there  was  a  mass  of  clay  beside  a  work- 
man. Every  now  and  then  he  took  up  a  large  mal- 
let and  struck  several  smart  blows  on  the  surface  of 
the  lump.  ''Why  do  you  do  that?"  was  asked. 
"Wait  a  bit,  sir,  and  watch  it,"  was  the  answer. 
The  visitor  obeyed,  and  soon  the  top  of  the  mass 
began  to  heave  and  swell,  and  bubbles  formed  upon 
its  face.  "  Now,  sir,  you  will  see,"  said  the  mod- 
eler, with  a  smile.  "  I  could  never  shape  the  clay 
into  a  vase  if  these  air  bubbles  were  in  it  ;  therefore 
I  gradually  beat  them  out."  Is  not  that  the  pur- 
pose of  the  discipline  of  life?  And  we  surely  can 
bear  testimony  that  it  has  often  had  that  effect  on 
us.  Who  cannot  remember  when  some  hard  knock, 
which  was  painful  and  mortifying  at  the  time,  let 
out  some  bubble  of  pride  or  self-will  which  it  was 
very  desirable  to  be  rid  of? 

Let  us  study  two  or  three  of  the  simple  but  es- 
sential conditions  of  success  in  the  struggle  of  life. 

And  surely  one  of  these  is  genuineness.  This  is 
of  supreme  importance,  for  final  and  permanent 
success  depends  far  more  on  what  we  are  than  on 
what  we  do.  A  clear  perception  of  our  own  indi- 
viduality is  necessary  to  the  highest  sincerity  and 
genuineness.     As  Dr.  Cuckson,  of  Boston,  recently 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  115 

said  :  "  The  dimensions  of  our  inner  life  are  deter- 
mined by  the  scale  to  which  they  are  set.  We  are 
all  character  builders  and  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  our  personality  depend  altogether  upon  the 
ideals  to  which  we  shape  it.  If  the  ideal  be  poor 
the  life  will  be  poor  ;  and  if  the  ideal  be  complete 
the  life  will  be  rich  and  full.  If  the  dominating- 
aim  of  our  existence  be  unsteady,  with  no  clearness 
of  purpose  and  definiteness  of  outline,  the  life  will 
correspond  to  it  and  be  as  shapeless  as  a  jellyfish. 
The  individuality  that  has  no  characteristics  has  no 
character.  It  is  like  a  marsh  that  is  full  of  snakes 
and  tadpoles.  Much  determined  force  is  indispen- 
sable to  the  making  of  manly  or  womanly  char- 
acter." 

It  is  this  power  to  shape  our  own  personality  and 
in  some  measure  control  our  own  destiny  that 
transforms  the  world  and  ennobles  both  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  collective  life  of  humanity.  Our 
first  ambition  ought  to  be  to  build  a  character  which 
shall  be  distinctively  our  own  for  all  time.  If  we 
cherish  our  individuality  in  this  way,  refusing  to 
allow  it  to  be  swamped  by  custom  or  warped  and 
twisted  out  of  shape  by  fashion,  we  will  not  feel 
ourselves  to  be  mere  machines,  but  the  free  chil- 
dren of  God.  A  very  interesting  illustration  of  the 
possibility  of  building  up  such  a  character  occurred 
a  few  days  since,  when  an  English  correspondent  of 
a  New  York  newspaper,  who  has  never  been  friendly 
to  Mr.  Gladstone,  but  often  distinctly  unfriendly, 
speaking  of  some  reprehensible  methods  of  the 
leading  English  politicians  of  to-day,  called  atten- 
tion by  way  of  contrast   to  the   lofty    character  of 


116  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

political  discussions  to  which  Mr,  Gladstone  has 
always  held  himself,  no  matter  how  strong  the  prov- 
ocation to  do  otherwise.  And  this  was  equally 
true  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  he  says,  when  he  was  prime 
minister  and  when  he  was  not.  The  attitude  of 
dignified  reserve  is  not,  with  him,  an  official  atti- 
tude. It  is  individual  and  spontaneous.  He  has  a 
high  sense  of  what  Is  due  to  himself  and  from  him- 
self. The  public  came  to  expect  it  from  him  just  as 
much  because  he  was  Mr.  Gladstone  as  they  ex- 
pected it  of  others  because  they  hold  an  office  and 
a  position  which  make  them  the  representatives  of 
England  and  of  what  is  best  and  noblest  in  Eng- 
lish public  life.  That  is  a  great  thing  to  be  able  to 
say  about  any  man  ;  and  that  which  makes  it  great 
is  possible  to  every  one  of  us — to  refuse  to  do  a 
mean  thing,  not  because  you  might  be  found  out  in 
it  or  it  would  disgrace  you,  but  because  it  is  be- 
neath you  and  contrary  to  the  great  honest  sub- 
stratum of  your  character. 

Nothing  in  the  long  run  is  so  fatal  to  true  suc- 
cess as  lack  of  genuine  simplicity  and  straightfor- 
wardness of  character.  James  Russell  Lowell  puts 
this  verse  tersely  : 

"I'm  older'n  you,  an'  I've  seen  things  an'  men  ; 

An'  my  experunce — tell  ye  wut  it's  ben  : 

Folks  thet  worked  thorough  was  the  ones  that  thriv, 

But  bad  work  foUers  ye  ez  long's  ye  live  ; 

You  can't  get  red  on't ;  jest  ez  sure  ez  sin, 

It's  allers  askin'  to  be  done  agin." 

The  great  test  of  character  is  fidelity  in  the  hidden 
life  and  in  the  little  thinors  of  life. 

Close  akin  to  this  is  another  characteristic  of  sue- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  117 

cess  in  life's  struggle,  and  that  is  an  uncompro- 
mising antagonism  to  evil  of  every  sort.  And  every- 
thing must  be  regarded  as  evil  for  us  that  stands  in 
the  way  of  our  highest  life.  It  is  not  necessary  that 
a  thing  should  be  wrong  in  itself;  if  it  stands  in  the 
way  of  the  highest  and  holiest  life  for  us  it  becomes 
at  once  our  most  deadly  enemy  and  should  be 
shown  by  us  no  quarter  whatever.  Over  in  Nor- 
wich, Conn.,  there  grows  what  is  claimed  to  be 
the  largest  wistaria  vine  in  the  country.  At  its 
base  it  is  a  foot  in  diameter.  A  little  above  the 
ground  its  trunk  divides,  and  it  throws  one  branch 
for  over  a  hundred  feet  around  the  front  of  a  hand- 
some mansion.  The  other  branch,  which  divides 
into  three  huge  strands,  each  four  inches  thick, 
trails  along  a  garden  fence  for  twenty  feet  and  then 
enters  what  was  once  the  most  magnificent  and 
stately  elm  on  the  street.  Noting  the  great  snaky 
vine  from  the  street,  if  you  have  a  keen  imagina- 
tion, it  is  easy  to  arouse  within  yourself  an  im- 
pression that  it  is  a  veritable  serpent  that  has  just 
leaped  upon  the  tree,  infolding  it  in  a  deathly  con- 
striction. And  if  you  notice  the  effect  of  this  beau- 
tiful vine  on  the  tree  the  impression  is  heightened, 
for  its  strong  coil  is  choking  the  life  out  of  the  tree. 
As  tlie  years  have  gone  on  it  has  flung  fold  after 
fold  about  the  trunk  and  branches,  ever  and  anon 
cutting  deep  circular  furrows  into  the  bark,  and 
finally,  lifting  its  huge  green  crest  high  above  the 
elm's  crown,  gathers  it  into  its  embrace.  The  tree 
was  naturally  very  thrifty  and  luxuriant,  but  it  al- 
ready shows  plentiful  tokens  that  its  beautiful,  but 
powerful,   enemy  is  throttling  it.     The  tips  of  its 


118  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

lower  boughs  are  dry  and  dead,  and  aloft  its  foliage 
is  sear  and  yellow.  Before  another  year  it  doubtless 
will  be  dead,  and  the  vegetable  serpent  may  feast  at 
will  on  its  leafless  carcass. 

This  is  a  faithful  illustration  of  what  we  see  con- 
stantly occurring  in  the  story  of  the  men  and  women 
whom  we  know.  How  many  times  we  see  men 
forming  habits  or  friendships  or  society  or  business 
connections  which  at  first  seem  only  to  decorate 
and  beautify  their  lives,  as  the  beautiful  wistaria 
blossoms  did  the  great  elm  tree.  But  after  a  while, 
as  we  watch  them,  we  see  that  this  new  association 
or  friendship  or  habit,  which  was  intended  only  to 
beautify  or  adorn,  begins  to  control  and  tyrannize, 
wrapping  fold  on  fold  about  our  friend  or  neigh- 
bor, until  all  that  we  loved  and  admired  in  him  is 
throttled  to  death.  Alas,  how  many  times  w'e  see 
the  spiritual  life  choked  out  in  this  way  !  Do  not  fail 
to  heed  the  lesson.  You  cannot  afford  to  let  busi- 
ness or  politics  or  society  or  anything  else,  though 
it  come  in  the  form  of  ''  an  angel  of  light,"  throttle 
within  you  your  spiritual  fellowship  Avith  God. 

We  need  also  to  be  on  our  guard  against  tempting 
God  by  thrusting  ourselves  into  the  midst  of  the  fires 
of  temptation.  How  foolish  for  us  to  pray  ''  Lead 
us  not  into  temptation  "  and  then  go,  fast  as  our 
steps  can  carry  us,  to  where  we  know  that  the  ''  sin 
which  doth  so  easily  beset  us  "  will  be  flaunted  in 
our  face.  The  newspapers  brought  us  the  other 
morning  the  story  of  the  silly  girl  at  Coney  Island 
who  came  near  being  killed,  and  will  probably  die, 
from  an  attempt  in  a  public  performance  to  kiss  the 
lips  of  a  big  Asiatic  lion.     The  great  brute,  which 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  119 

had  hitherto  seemed  tame  enough,  was  aroused  to  an- 
ger and  seized  and  mangled  her  with  cruel  ferocity. 
Silly  and  presumptuous  as  that  seems,  many  men 
and  women  about  us  are  not  more  wise  when  they 
daily  kiss  the  lips,  as  it  were,  of  habits  and  associa- 
tions which,  however  harmless  they  may  seem  for 
a  while,  will  inevitably  at  last  bury  their  deadly  fangs 
in  their  presumptuous  victims.  We  have  daily 
need  to  pray,  with  David,  "  Keep  back  thy  servant 
also  from  presumptuous  sins." 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  true  struggle  for 
life  is  a  battle  of  faith.  "  Fight  the  good  fight  of 
faith  "  is  Paul's  ringing  appeal.  Many  people  fail 
in  the  struggle  for  life  through  a  lack  of  the  faith 
element  which  gives  the  daring  and  courage  that  is 
the  very  lifeblood  of  heroes.  It  is  related  that  in 
one  of  the  battles  of  the  American  Revolution  Gen- 
eral Lee  had  been  ordered  by  General  Washington 
to  open  the  attack,  which  for  some  cause  he  failed  to 
do.  General  Washington  reprimanded  him  by  in- 
quiring what  untimely  prudence  prevented  him  from 
carrying  out  the  orders  of  his  superior.  "  I  know  of 
no  man,"  said  Lee,  "who  has  more  of  that  rascally 
virtue  than  yourself."  How  many  of  us  fail  because 
of  a  possession  of  too  much  of  the  "  rascally  "  vir- 
tue !  That  high  faith  in  God  which  makes  every 
man  that  possesses  it  seem  rash  to  worldlings  who 
know  nothing  of  God's  presence  and  blessing  is  the 
great  propelling  power  of  a  genuine  Christian  life. 
John  Wesley  said,  '*  May  God  deliver  me  and  all 
that  seek  him  in  sincerity  from  what  the  world  calls 
Christian  prudence !  " 

This  genuine,  uncompromising  atmosphere  of  tlie 


120  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

soul  does,  naturally,  lay  hold  on  eternal  life.  It  lifts 
one  out  of  the  merely  material  and  temporal,  and 
makes  men  who  delve  among  the  dusty  details  of 
common  things  to  breathe  the  high  air  of  lofty  pur- 
pose. Bishop  Lawrence,  a  few  days  since,  at  the 
Harvard  College  commencement,  with  keen  fore- 
sight into  the  needs  of  the  day,  warned  the  young- 
men  going  out  this  year  from  that  great  institution 
against  what  he  aptly  calls  the  '*  stolid  commercial 
spirit  "  of  the  time.  And  I  doubt  not  that  some 
who  hear  me  need  the  same  warning.  How^  many 
men  there  are  who  used  to  have  noble  ideals  and 
spiritual  aspirations,  who  to-day  find  themselves 
deadened  by  this  same  "  stolid  commercial  spirit." 
The  changes  of  the  market,  the  newspaper  seven 
days  in  the  week,  the  interest  in  politics,  and  the 
small  talk  of  the  day  enwrap  them,  until  they  be- 
come one  of  those  stolid,  uninteresting  commercial 
machines  which  you  may  meet  so  often  in  the  office 
or  the  club.  The  only  way  to  escape  this  is  to  fight 
sincerely  and  honestly  "the  good  fight  of  faith." 
The  man  who  makes  all  the  ordinary  things  of  life 
subservient  to  that  fight  is  kept  heroic  and  eager  by 
the  romance  of  spirituality  which  enters  into  life's 
commonest  deeds.  For  no  man  can  live  on  the  re- 
ligious experiences  of  his  childhood  or  youth.  Your 
religion,  if  it  is  to  be  worth  anything  to  you,  must 
come  out  of  the  living  present  and  must  throb  in  the 
blood  of  your  daily  life. 

A  man  who  had  charge  of  a  surveying  party  in 
the  forests  of  Florida  relates  that  one  day  they  were 
resting  at  noon,  when  one  of  the  men  exclaimed, 
**  I  would  give  fifty  cents  a  swallow  for  all  the  water 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  121 

I  could  drink."  He  expressed  the  sentiments  of 
the  others.  All  were  very  thirsty,  and  there  was 
not  a  spring  or  stream  anywhere  in  the  vicinity. 
While  the  men  were  thus  talking  the  chief  surveyor 
saw  a  crow  put  his  bill  into  a  cluster  of  broad  long 
leaves  growing  on  the  side  of  a  tall  cypress.  The 
leaves  were  those  of  a  peculiar  air  plant.  They  are 
green  and  bulge  out  at  the  bottom,  forming  an  in- 
verted bell.  The  smaller  end  is  held  to  the  tree  by 
roots  grappling  the  bark.  It  feeds  on  the  air  and 
water  that  it  catches  and  holds.  Thus  the  air  plant 
becomes  a  sort  of  cistern.  The  surveyor  sprang  to 
his  feet  with  a  laugh.  ''  Boys,"  he  said,  "  that  old 
crow  is  wiser  than  every  one  of  us."  *'  How  so?" 
they  asked.  '*  Why,  he  knows  that  there  are  a  hun- 
dred thousand  water  tanks  in  this  forest."  "  Where  ?" 
they  cried,  in  amazement.  For  reply,  the  surveyor 
cut  an  air  plant  in  two  and  drained  nearly  a  pint  of 
pure,  cold  water  from  it.  The  men  did  not  suffer 
for  water  after  that,  for  every  tree  in  the  forest  had 
at  least  one  air  plant,  and  almost  every  air  plant 
contained  a  drink  of  water. 

Does  this  not  give  a  true  picture  of  the  possibili- 
ties of  human  life  about  us  ?  Many  are  perishing 
of  cruel  thirst  who  have  dwelt  in  the  world's  desert 
and  sought  far  and  wide  over  its  burning  sands  ;  but, 
in  spite  of  wealth  and  culture  and  all  that  the  world 
is  able  to  give  them,  they  are  fairly  yawning  them- 
selves out  of  existence,  driven  by  a  burning  thirst 
that  the  earth  has  not  been  able  to  quench.  And 
yet  all  about  them,  in  the  everyday  contact  of  com- 
mon living,  it  has  been  possible  for  them,  if  they 
had  been  guided  by  heavenly  wisdom,  to  tap  the 


122  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

fountains  of  the  water  of  life  of  which,  if  a  man 
drink,  says  Christ,  he  shall  thirst  no  more. 

Here,  then,  is  the  secret  of  laying  hold  *'  upon 
eternal  life."  Eternal  life  is  to  be  born  within  us. 
It  is  not  some  ready-made  gift  that  is  to  be  bestowed 
upon  us  at  death  ;  it  is  to  be  born  in  us  here  and 
now.  We  are  to  live  in  its  enjoyment.  We  are  to 
exult  in  its  atmosphere  day  by  day.  We  are  to  be 
nerved  by  it  for  heroic  and  courageous  deeds.  Ah, 
this  it  is  which  dignifies  and  glorifies  the  struggle 
for  life. 

Mrs.  Farningham  sings  a  song  of  her  "Compan- 
ions "  which  crystallizes  what  we  have  been  study- 
ing together: 

"My  care 
Goes  with  me  everywhere  ; 
The  broken  lights  upon  the  sea, 
The  star  lamps  shining  lustrously, 
God's  great,  wide  world  of  field  and  moor, 
The  lofty  cliffs  that  guard  the  shore — 
I  turn  from  all  to  meet  the  face 
Of  one  who  shows  me  little  grace. 

For  care 
Is  with  me  everywhere. 

"  And  pain, 
A  guest  that  will  remain, 
Sits  with  me  in  the  house  at  night, 
And  comes  to  me  with  morning  light. 
Making  a  home  within  my  breast, 
And  stays  my  work,  and  breaks  my  rest, 
And  makes  me  weary  vigils  keep. 
Nor  lets  me  for  my  sowing  reap. 

For  pain 
Sleeps  but  to  wake  again. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE.  123 

"  But  hope 
Helps  me  with  these  to  cope, 
And  cheery  comrades,  fair  to  see 
And  strong  to  comfort,  live  with  me  ; 
Faith  bears  me  upward  on  its  wing, 
And  sings  to  me  until  I  sing  ; 
Peace  touches  me  with  tender  grace, 
And  bids  pain  take  a  lower  place ; 

While  love 
Stays  on,  and  will  not  move. 

"And  One 
Whose  light  is  as  the  sun. 
Whose  pity  never  comes  too  late, 
Whose  pardon,  like  himself,  is  great, 
Knows  me  unworthy,  yet  no  less 
Lingers  in  his  sweet  gentleness  ; 
Jesus,  my  Saviour,  takes  my  care. 
And  he  is  with  me  everywhere. 

For  he, 
In  life  and  death,  abides  with  me." 


124  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


XI. 

SELF-TRIUMPH  THROUGH  SELF-FORGET- 
FULNESS. 

"And  the  Lord  turned  the  captivity  of  Job,  when  he  prayed  for  his 
friends." — Job  xlii,  lo. 

THIS  Book  of  Job  bears  abundant  testimony 
that  our  world  is  God's  workshop  in  which  he 
builds  human  character  ;  that  sorrows,  trials,  and 
difficulties  are  only  tools  which  divine  wisdom  uses 
for  that  great  end.  The  fire  must  often  be  at  a 
white  heat,  the  anvil  broad,  and  the  hammer  heavy 
to  mold  and  fashion  the  shape  which  infinite  skill 
and  love  require.  As  another  has  said,  we  must 
conquer  life  before  we  can  conquer  death.  We 
must  subdue  the  earth  before  we  are  worthy  to 
come  into  our  kingdom  in  heaven.  We  must 
lose  self  to  find  God.  The  great  white  host  which 
adorned  the  vision  at  Patmos  recorded  in  the  Book 
of  Revelation  came  up  out  of  great  tribulation. 
The  Bible,  human  history,  and  the  observation  of 
all  thoughtful  souls  conspire  to  teach  us  that 

"  Life  is  not  an  idle  ore, 
But  heated  hot  with  burning  fears 
And  bathed  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 
And  battered  with  the  strokes  of  doom 
To  shape  and  use." 

And  yet  off  from  the  broad  anvil,  and  out  from 
under  the  heavy  hammer  of  the  severest  trial,  Job 


TRIUMPH  THROUGH  SELF-FORGETFULNESS.       125 

came,  even  in  this  world,  to  an  experience  of  sub- 
lime joy  and  serene  peace.  His  diseases  were 
healed,  his  friends  came  back  to  him,  his  desolate 
home  was  filled  with  the  comforts  and  delights  of 
love,  his  pastures  were  covered  with  flocks  and 
herds,  and  he  came  to  a  ripe  old  age  in  the  greatest 
prosperity  of  his  life. 

Between  the  two  pictures  which  stand  so  strongly 
in  contrast  in  Job's  life — between  the  night  of  des- 
olation and  the  day  of  triumph — there  was  a 
twilight  worthy  of  our  study.  The  climax  in  Job's 
life  is  described  in  our  text.  It  was  reached  on 
that  day  when,  ceasing  to  think  about  himself,  he 
became  prayerful  in  behalf  of  his  friends.  Job 
learned  at  last,  what  every  earnest  seeker  after 
truth  must  learn,  that 

"  The  struggle  that's  only  for  self 

No  joy  among  angels  may  wake  ; 
But  the  brighetst  of  crowns  will  be  given 
To  those  who  have  suffered  and  striven 

For  somebody's  sake." 

And  so  we  come  to  our  theme,  "  Self-triumph 
through  Self-forgetfulness."  Not  only  Job,  but 
every  other  soul  that,  like  Job,  turns  to  sincere  and 
earnest  work  for  others,  finds  that  he  is  rescued 
thereby  from  many  annoying  captivities. 

Work  for  others  rescues  us  from  the  captivity  of 
overweening  personal  conceit.  Beautifully  did  the 
wise  old  Greeks  say  that  the  lovely  youth  Narcis- 
sus resisted  every  charm,  until  he  came  to  look  in  a 
still,  clear  pool.  It  shone  like  a  mirror.  In  it  he 
saw  his  own  beautiful  form  and  fell  in  love  with  it, 
thinking  it  a  deity.  That  love,  necessarily  unre- 
9 


126  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

quited,  was  his  death,  as  such  self-love  must  ever 
be.  Such  self-love  always  remains  unconscious  of 
its  own  blindness  and  busies  itself  with  finding  out 
the  faults  of  others,  without  attempt  to  pity,  much 
less  to  cure,  them.  No  tyrant  is  more  cruel  to  his 
abject  slave  than  an  overweening  conceit  is  to  the 
soul  where  it  holds  dominion.  The  man  who  is 
satisfied  with  himself  is  doomed.  For  him  there  is 
no  upward  climbing,  no  greater  success.  The  door- 
ways of  increased  knowledge  are  blocked  by  the 
huge  walls  of  his  dogged  self-conceit.  We  are  told 
that,  when  the  Florentine  magistrate  came  to  look 
at  Michael  Angelo's  sublime  statue  of  David,  he 
declared  it  was  splendid  with  one  exception — the 
nose  was  too  large.  The  sculptor  said  it  was  quite 
as  it  should  be.  But  the  magistrate  was  so  sure  it 
was  too  large  that  the  sculptor  took  hammer  and 
chisel  and  seemed  to  reduce  it  ;  but  in  truth  he  only 
let  fall  some  chippings  he  had  carried  up  with  him. 
He  had  really  not  touched  it.  "  Now,"  said  the 
magistrate,  ''it  is  perfection."  Most  of  us  have  met 
with  similar  proofs  of  the  egotism  of  conceit  and  its 
blind  folly.  Perhaps  our  friends  have  seen  the  same 
in  us,  and  we  may  be  very  sure  our  enemies  have. 

But  when  we  turn  from  ourselves  and  devote  our 
thought  and  care  to  the  help  of  others  we  drop  into 
our  proper  place  in  the  circle  of  the  universe.  We 
find  that  we  are  of  like  passions  and  tempers  and  in- 
firmities with  other  people,  and  that  on  its  own 
ground  the  most  ordinary  little  child  may  teach 
us,  despite  all  our  self-sufficient  wisdom.  It  is  only 
by  sympathetic  devotion  to  others  that  we  may 
enter  into  that  brotherly  fellowship  with  our  fellow- 


TRIUMPH  THROUGH  SELF-FORGETFULNESS.       127 

men  by  which  we  may  really  be  taught  the  great  les- 
sons of  human  life.  Carlyle  never  wrote  a  truer 
sentence  than  this :  "  When  the  heart  is  dead 
the  eye  cannot  see."  The  editor  of  the  Outlook^  in 
a  recent  article,  says,  with  great  earnestness  and 
truth,  that  we  know  men  only  as  our  sympathies 
clear  our  mental  vision.  We  deal  justly  with 
our  fellows  only  as  we  are  alive  to  each  man's  lim- 
itations, as  well  as  to  his  possibilities.  Sympathy  is 
the  key  that  opens  the  heart  of  king  and  beggar. 
Sympathy  is  the  touchstone  of  life.  Without  it 
man  is  a  drudge — only  a  slave  to  his  necessities. 
Work  without  love  is  bondage.  The  man  who 
works  without  the  mainspring  of  sympathy  loses 
the  beauty  of  life  and  is  deprived  of  the  inspiration 
of  success.  Sympathy,  and  not  ambition,  is  the 
foundation  of  true  living.  Josephine  Pollard  sings 
with  true  poetic  insight : 

"  I  sent  an  eagle  from  my  ark, 
When  all  around  was  dull  and  dark. 
And  watched  it  as  it  took  its  flight 
Onward  and  upward  to  a  height 
Supremely  grand  ;  its  wings,  outspread, 
Make  a  black  canopy  o'erhead. 
Through  which  no  ray  of  comfort  stole, 
Nor  promise  of  a  peaceful  goal. 

"  I  sent  a  dove  from  out  the  ark, 
When  all  around  was  dull  and  dark, 
And  watched  it  as  it  soared  on  high. 
Its  white  wings  brightening  the  sky — 
As  if  heaven's  gates  stood  wide  apart ; 
Until  the  radiance  reached  my  heart, 
And  on  the  pinions  of  a  dove 
I  found  the  anchorage  of  love. 


128  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

"  Too  oft  ambition  clouds  the  gaze, 
Removes  the  sunshine  from  life's  ways. 
And,  like  an  eagle,  in  its  flight 
Is  lost  upon  some  giddy  height ; 
While  on  white  wings  the  carrier  dove 
Bears  the  poor,  burdened  soul  above, 
Into  an  atmosphere  of  peace. 
Where  all  these  surging  billows  cease." 

Work  for  others  rescues  us  from  the  slavish  mo- 
notony of  life.  A  little  street  waif  was  once  taken 
to  the  house  of  a  great  English  lady,  and  the  child- 
ish eyes,  that  were  accustomed  to  look  so  sharply 
after  daily  bread,  were  dazzled  by  signs  of  splendor 
on  every  hand.  ''  Can  you  get  everything  you 
want?  "  the  child  asked  of  the  mistress  of  the  man- 
sion. "  Yes,  I  think  so,"  was  the  reply.  ''  Can  you 
buy  anything  you  would  like  to  have  ?  "  The  lady 
answered,  ''Yes."  And  the  child,  who  was  of  a 
meditative  turn  of  mind,  looked  at  her  half  pity- 
ingly and  said,  "  Don't  you  find  it  dull?"  To  the 
little,  keen  mind,  accustomed  to  live,  like  the  birds 
in  the  park,  from  day  to  day  and  to  rejoice  over 
enough  to  eat  with  the  appetite  born  of  rarity,  the 
aspect  of  continual  plenty,  desires  all  gratified  by 
possession,  contained  an  idea  of  monotony  that 
seemed  almost  wearisome. 

Many  a  man  and  many  a  woman,  with  wealth 
and  culture  and  all  things  that  the  thoughtless  mul- 
titude envy,  have  died  of  pure  monotony.  Wholly 
selfish,  given  up  to  a  life  of  simply  taking  care  of 
self,  many  a  man  has  considered  it  not  worth  while 
and  has  died  the  death  of  the  suicide,  fairly  yawn- 
ing himself  out  of  existence.     Many  a  parent,  strug- 


TRIUMPH  THROUGH  SELF-FORGETFULNESS.       129 

gling  against  poverty  and  other  ills  in  order  to  keep 
together  and  educate  a  large  family,  has  failed  to  ap- 
preciate how  richly  they  were  really  blessed  of  God, 
and  that  this  work  for  others,  which  filled  heart  and 
hands  with  care,  has  in  it  a  joy  that  would  seem  a 
very  oasis  in  the  desert  to  many  a  childless  woman 
and  lonely  man,  dying  of  the  monotonous  rounds 
of  their  selfish  lives.  There  is  an  old  poem  with 
enough  of  human  nature  in  it  to  deserve  to  be  al- 
ways kept  new.  It  tells  how  a  father  and  mother, 
who  found  it  very  hard  to  make  two  ends  meet  in 
caring  for  a  large  family  of  children,  refused  the  of- 
fer of  a  rich  friend's  comfortable  provision  for  them, 
on  the  condition  that  they  should  in  return  give  him 
one  of  their  children.  It  is  the  mother  who  tells  the 
story : 

"  '  Which  shall  it  be  ?     Which  shall  it  be  ?  ' 

I  looked  at  John — John  looked  at  me 

(Dear,  patient  John,  who  loves  me  yet. 

As  well  as  though  my  locks  were  jet). 

And  when  I  found  that  I  must  speak, 

My  voice  seemed  strangely  low  and  weak : 

'Tell  me  again  what  Robert  said.' 

And  then  I,  Hstening,  bent  my  head. 

'  This  is  his  letter  :  "  I  will  give 

A  house  and  land  while  you  shall  live, 

If,  in  return,  from  out  your  seven, 

One  child  to  me  for  aye  is  given."  ' 

I  looked  at  John's  old  garments  worn ; 

I  thought  of  all  that  John  had  borne 

Of  poverty  and  work  and  care. 

Which  I,  though  willing,  could  not  share; 

I  thought  of  seven  mouths  to  feed, 

Of  sevTn  little  children's  need, 

And  then  of  this.     *  Come,  John,'  said  I, 

•  We'll  choose  among  them  as  they  lie 


130  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Asleep.'     So,  walking  hand  in  hand, 
Dear  John  and  I  surveyed  our  band- 
First  to  the  cradle  lightly  stepped, 
Where  Lillian,  the  baby,  slept, 
A  glory  'gainst  the  pillow  white. 
Softly  the  father  stooped  to  lay 
His  rough  hand  down  in  loving  way. 
When  dream  or  whisper  made  her  stir. 
And  huskily  said,  '  Not  her,  not  her.' 
We  stooped  beside  the  trundle-bed. 
And  one  long  ray  of  lamplight  shed 
Athwart  the  boyish  faces  there. 
In  sleep  so  pitiful  and  fair ; 
I  saw  on  Jamie's  rough,  red  cheek 
A  tear,  undried,  e'er  John  could  speak. 
'  He's  but  a  baby,  too,'  said  I, 
And  kissed  him  as  we  hurried  by. 
Pale,  patient  Robbie's  angel  face 
Still  in  his  sleep  bore  suffering's  trace. 

*  No,  for  a  thousand  crowns,  not  him,* 
He  whispered,  while  our  eyes  were  dim. 
Poor  Dick!  bad  Dick!  our  wayward  son, 
Turbulent,  reckless,  idle  one — 

Could  he  be  spared  ?     '  Nay,  He  who  gave 

Bid  us  befriend  him  to  his  grave  ; 

Only  a  mother's  heart  can  be 

Patient  enough  for  such  as  he ; 

And  so,'  said  John,  '  I  would  not  dare 

To  send  him  from  her  bedside  prayer.* 

Then  stole  we  softly  up  above 

And  knelt  by  Mary,  child  of  love. 

•  Perhaps  for  her  'twould  better  be,' 
I  said  to  John.     Quite  silently 

He  lifted  up  a  curl  that  lay 

Across  her  cheek  in  willful  way 

And  shook  his  head,  '  Nay,  love,  not  thee,' 

The  while  my  heart  beat  audibly. 

Only  one  more,  our  eldest  lad. 

Trusty  and  truthful,  good  and  glad. 


TRIUMPH  THROUGH  SELF-FORGETFULNESS.       131 

So  like  his  father.     '  No,  John,  no— 
I  cannot,  will  not  let  him  go.' 
And  so  we  wrote,  in  courteous  way, 
We  could  not  give  one  child  away ; 
And  afterward  toil  lighter  seemed, 
Thinking  of  that  of  which  we  dreamed, 
Happy  in  truth  that  not  one  face 
Was  missed  from  its  accustomed  place; 
Thankful  to  work  for  all  the  seven. 
Trusting  the  rest  to  One  in  heaven  !  " 

Working  for  others  rescues  us  from  the  slavery 
of  covetousness.  Some  people  are  nothing  more 
or  less  than  great  human  sponges,  that  absorb  every- 
thing they  touch,  but  never  of  their  own  accord 
yield  anything  up.  If  they  ever  give  up  anything 
it  is  because  they  are  squeezed  so  hard  they  cannot 
help  themselves.  Some  people  are  like  a  great  spi- 
der, who  builds  his  web  so  broad  and  runs  his  snares 
out  so  on  every  hand  that  he  catches  every  fly  that 
comes  in  his  corner  of  the  room,  but  no  fly  who  gets 
in  ever  gets  out.  So  these  people  have  snares  by 
which  they  draw  in  and  absorb,  but  are  always 
ready  and  eager  for  more,  always  selfish,  covetous, 
and  miserly.  As  some  one  has  well  written,  there 
are  people  who  display  wonderful  absorbing  qualities 
in  the  home.  They  absorb  the  loving  attention  and 
thoughtful  care  of  wife  and  mother,  brothers  and 
sisters,  or  children,  and  give  out  nothing  in  return 
but  unkind  words  and  cold  indifference.  When 
they  enter  the  family  circle  the  atmosphere  always 
drops  below  zero.  They  seem  to  draw  out  of  it  all 
its  warmth  and  life  ;  but  no  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  such  qualities  appears  in  their  natures.  They  just 
absorb,  and  that  is  all.     Many  professing  Christians 


132  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

have  remarkable  absorbing  power.  Blessings  are 
theirs  day  by  day,  and  God's  love  and  goodness  are 
about  them  everywhere,  like  the  very  atmosphere. 
They  drink  these  things  into  their  being  as  plants 
do  the  sunshine,  and  yet  nothing  appears  to  prove 
the  gift.  No  grateful  prayers  arise  from  their  lips, 
no  thanks  are  returned  for  the  bounty  God  bestows. 
They  take  in  all  the  happiness  and  prosperity  that 
comes  along,  but  give  out  nothing  in  like  kind — no 
sympathy,  no  charity,  no  mercy,  no  kindness,  no  love. 
They  just  absorb,  but  nothing  more. 

God  save  us  from  beingsimply  sponges  in  the  world 
and  in  the  Church.  But  you  may  rest  assured 
there  is  only  one  Avay  he  will  do  it,  and  that  is  by 
setting  you  to  work  to  distribute  what  he  gives  to 
you  for  the  good  of  others.  All  the  manifold  bless- 
ings which  God  bestows  upon  us  are  intended  to  be 
a  blessing  to  others  as  well  as  ourselves.  Not  one 
ought  to  be  selfishly  appropriated.  Paul  teaches  us 
that  God  gives  us  divine  comfort  in  sorrow,  not  for 
ourselves  alone,  but  that  we  may  know  how  to  com- 
fort others.  How  definitely  is  this  expressed  in  his 
splendid  words,  *'  Blessed  be  God,  even  the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  mercies,  and 
the  God  of  all  comfort ;  who  comforteth  us  in  all 
our  tribulation,  that  we  maybe  able  to  comfort  them 
which  are  in  any  trouble,  by  the  comfort  wherewith  we 
ourselves  are  comforted  of  God."  Phillips  Brooks, 
commenting  on  this  scripture,  says  that  no  man  has 
come  to  true  greatness  who  has  not  felt  in  some 
degree  that  his  life  belongs  to  his  race,  and  that 
what  God  gives  him  he  gives  him  for  mankind.  The 
truth  is,  we  are  at  our  best  when  we  try  to  be  our  best. 


TRIUMPH  THROUGH  SELF-FORGETFULNESS.       133 

not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  for  our  brethren  ;  and 
we  take  God's  gifts  most  completely  for  ourselves 
when  we  realize  that  he  sends  them  to  us  for  the 
benefit  of  our  fellows. 

Work  for  others  does  also  some  positive  things 
for  us.  First,  it  beautifies  the  character.  A  prettily 
dressed  little  American  boy  was  walking  along 
the  streets  of  Paris  one  day  when,  as  he  tried  to 
cross  the  crowded  boulevard,  he  was  knocked  down 
by  the  pole  of  a  carriage.  In  a  moment  a  crowd 
had  collected  ;  but  the  first  upon  the  spot  was  a 
little  crossing  sweeper,  ragged  and  dirty,  who  had 
seen  the  danger  and  had  sprung  to  help  the  little 
boy  almost  before  the  pole  touched  him.  Tenderly 
and  carefully  the  street  boy  raised  the  rich  man's 
son  in  his  arms,  carried  him  through  the  crowd,  and 
into  a  drug  store  near  by.  It  was  found  that  the 
boy  was  not  much  hurt.  And  soon  the  crowd  dis- 
persed. The  druggist  bound  up  the  boy's  wounds, 
the  little  crossing  sweeper  standing  by  in  sympathy ; 
and  when  the  work  was  done  he  ran  out,  paid  the 
boy's  fare,  and  told  the  conductor  where  to  stop. 
As  the  omnibus  rolled  away  and  the  crossing  sweeper 
turned  back  to  his  work  a  gentleman  who  had  been 
looking  on  spoke  to  him,  offering  him  six  cents. 
**  Here,  my  boy,"  said  he,  ''  you  can't  afford  to  pay 
that  rich  child's  fare.  Let  me  give  it  back  to 
you."  The  crossing  sweeper  put  his  hand  behind 
him.  "  O,  no,"  said  he,  "  for  there  wouldn't  be  any 
charm." 

He  meant  that  the  charm  of  having  done  the 
kindness  would  all  be  lost  to  him  if  it  cost  him 
nothing,  and  he  was  quite  right.     The  poor  little 


134  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

crossing  sweeper  understood  that  the  true  secret  of 
happiness  was  in  giving  or  in  doing  good.  Nothing 
adds  so  much  to  the  real  beauty  of  a  character  or  a 
hfe  as  that  supreme  humih'ty  and  self-sacrifice  which 
cheerfully,  gladly  goes  down  to  help  and  bless  those 
who  need  ;  and  the  lowlier  and  more  helpless  the 
sufferers  may  be  whom  we  are  permitted  to  serve 
the  more  beautiful  it  is,  the  nearer  the  likeness  to 
Him  who  is  the  ''chiefest  among  ten  thousand" 
and  the  One  ''  altogether  lovely."  Perhaps  you  re- 
member the  quaint  verses  that  were  current  in  the 
press  some  half  dozen  years  ago,  entitled  "  De 
Massa  ob  de  Sheepfol'  :  " 

"  De  Massa  ob  de  sheepfol', 

Dat  guard  de  sheepfol'  bin, 
Look  out  in  de  gloomerin'  meadows, 

Whar  de  long  night  rain  begin — 
So  he  call  to  the  hirelin'  shepa'd, 

'  Is  my  sheep,  is  dey  all  come  in  ? ' 

"  '  O,'  den  says  de  hirelin'  shepa'd, 
*  Dey's  some  dey's  black  and  thin. 

And  some  dey's  po'  ol'  weddas, 
But  de  res'  dey's  all  brung  in.' 

•'  Den  de  Massa  ob  de  sheepfol', 

Dat  guard  de  sheepfol'  bin. 
Goes  down  in  de  gloomerin'  meadows, 

Whar  de  long  night  rain  begin — 
So  he  le'  down  de  ba's  ob  de  sheepfol', 

Callin'  sof,  '  Come  in,  come  in,' 

Callin'  sof,  '  Come  in,  come  in  ! 

"  Den  up  t'ro'  de  gloomerin'  meadows, 
T'ro'  de  col'  night  rain  and  win'. 

And  up  t'ro'  de  gloomerin'  rain-paf, 
Whar  de  sleet  fa'  pie'cin'  thin. 


TRIUMPH  THROUGH  SELF-FORGETFULNESS.       135 

De  po'  los'  sheep  ob  de  sheepfol', 

Dey  all  comes  gadderin'  in, 
De  po'  los'  sheep  ob  de  sheepfol', 

Dey  all  comes  gadderin'  in." 

Finally,  we  have  this  truth,  that  in  working  for 
others  we  are  enriching  our  own  souls.  Even  Job's 
oxen  and  camels  came  back  to  him  when,  forgetful 
of  his  own  poverty,  he  was  busy  praying  for  his 
friends.  Dean  Swift  was  once  before  an  immense 
throng  in  London  to  preach  a  charity  sermon.  It 
was  very  effective,  but  it  was  the  shortest  sermon 
on  record.  After  slowly  reading  his  text,  "  He  that 
hath  pity  upon  the  poor  lendeth  unto  the  Lord," 
the  dean  added,  *'  Now,  my  brethren,  if  you  are 
satisfied  with  the  security  down  with  the  dust." 
Underneath  his  wit  was  the  bed  rock  of  the  great 
law  undergirding  the  universe.  It  is  God,  who  has 
been  giving  out  from  mind  and  heart  and  soul  to 
all  the  creatures  of  the  universe  since  the  time  when 
the  morning  stars  sang  together,  who  assures  that 
it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive. 

Sometimes  your  gift  seems  to  be  lost.  No  record 
seems  to  be  kept  of  it.  It  passes  forever  out  of 
your  sight.  Nay,  not  forever  !  This  life  here  is  not 
the  storehouse  of  the  universe.  Such  returns  as 
God  gives  us  here  are  only  foretastes  of  that  land 
where  every  prayer  offered  for  others  is  kept  as 
precious  perfume.  Sometimes,  when  everything 
seems  to  be  going  away  from  us  in  this  transitory 
life,  we  are  ready  in  our  anguish  to  cry  out  with  the 
poet, 

*'  Summer  wind,  let  the  hawthorns  rest, 
Leave  the  blossom  to  deck  the  bough." 


136                            THE  CHRIST  DREAM.  j 

i 

But  the  summer  winds  answer,  -' 

I 

"  '  Nay,  I  scatter  them  east  and  west —  \ 

Who  knows  where  they  are  drifting  now  ?  '  J 

"Gentle  sea,  let  the  white  sails  stay;  '| 

Life  is  brief,  and  to  part  is  pain."  j 

But  the  waves  reply,  j 

"  '  Nay,  I  carry  them  far  away —  -s 

Who  knows  when  they  may  come  again  ?  '  ■ 

"  Father  Time,  let  the  dreamer  be  ; 

Spare  the  visions  that  charm  my  sleep.  -^ 

•  Nay,  I  laugh  at  thy  dreams  and  thee  ;  | 

Thou  shalt  lose  them  and  wake  to  weep.* "  '- 

But  over  them  all  we  are  more  than  conquerors,  ^ 

and  may  triumphantly  exclaim  :  ■ 

''  Wind  and  billow,  and  ruthless  Time, 

All  your  triumphs  shall  soon  be  past. 
I  am  bound  for  a  fairer  clime, 

Where  lost  treasures  are  found  at  last.  " 

"  Blooms  of  summer,  and  loves  of  old,  ■ 

Hopes  that  faded  and  seemed  to  die,  j 

Things  more  precious  than  gems  or  gold,  i 

God  has  stored  in  his  house  on  high."  \ 


YESTERDAY.  137 


XII. 

YESTERDAY. 

**  What  hast  thou  done  ?  " — Gen.  iv,  lo. 

A  MAN  cannot  run  away  from  his  shadow, 
neither  can  he  escape  from  his  yesterday. 
We  cannot  go  back  to  efface  or  obliterate  the  rec- 
ord ;  but  such  as  it  is  it  pursues  us  and  refuses  to 
be  left  behind.  The  gate  into  the  new  year  swings 
on  its  hinges,  and  we  must  pass  through.  We  can- 
not avoid  it  if  we  would,  we  could  not  go  back  if 
we  so  desired.  But  the  new  year's  gate  cannot  shut 
out  our  yesterday.  It  is  ours.  It  belongs  to  us. 
It  is  a  part  of  us.  Herein  is  the  great  significance 
of  our  individuality. 

It  must  have  seemed  personal  enough  when  God 
came  to  Cain  in  that  early  time  with  this  heart- 
searching  question  of  the  text,  "  What  hast  thou 
done?"  and  the  further  declaration,  **  The  voice  of 
thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the  ground." 
But  It  is  just  as  personal  now.  Our  personality  is 
not  lost  because  of  the  multiplication  of  individu- 
als. We  are  individuals  still.  Some  one  says  that 
there  is  an  infinity  of  littleness  which  does  more  to 
illustrate  and  exalt  the  power  of  God  than  the  infin- 
ity of  greatness.  Any  being  with  an  arm  strong 
enough  could  chisel  the  mountains.  Anyone  with 
a  hand  large  enough  could  hold   the  ocean.     But  it 


138  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

is  not  the  strong  arm  alone  nor  the  great  hand  alone 
u'hich  could  fashion  a  katydid,  or  paint  a  tiger  lily. 
He  who  does  both  must  combine  delicacy  the  most 
wonderful  with  power  the  most  mighty.  And  such 
is  our  God.  So  long  as  we  can  pluck  in  the  wildest 
mountain  gorge  a  tiny  flower  that  is  as  perfect  in 
all  its  parts  as  the  rugged  mountain  itself  we  may 
know  that  God  cares  for  individuals. 

What  is  an  individual?  Certainly  it  cannot  be  a 
mere  creation  of  circumstances.  Sometimes  we  say 
we  do  not  see  how  a  man  who  has  made  shipwreck 
can  help  being  just  what  he  is — that  it  is  only 
what  might  have  been  expected  under  the  circum- 
stances. But  why  should  it  have  been  expected  ? 
Only  because  the  person  is  weak,  and  not  because 
the  circumstances  are  so  strong.  There  is  never  a 
sin  we  fall  into  but  we  might  have  escaped  it. 
There  is  never  a  temptation  by  which  we  are  en- 
snared but  we  see  afterward  how  we  might  have  re- 
sisted it.  God  has  given  to  us  a  will  powerful  and 
indomitable,  which,  if  assisted  by  his  grace  that  is 
freely  offered  us,  can  override  even  the  most  adverse 
circumstances  and  make  them  stepping-stones  by 
which  we  rise  to  higher  things.  It  is  not  true  to 
say  about  any  person  that  he  is  in  any  sense  a  crea- 
ture of  chance.  He  is  rather  the  sum  total  of  causes 
which  he  himself  has  set  in  motion,  a  result  of  forces 
which  he  has  held  in  his  own  hand.  Often,  when 
men  make  a  conspicuous  success  in  life,  we  talk 
about  them  as  ''self-made  men."  But  why  should 
we  thus  specialize  ?  We  all  make  ourselves.  Great 
orators,  great  scholars,  great  poets  are  no  more  self- 
made  than  great  drunkards  and  great  fools.     A  bank 


YESTERDAY.  139 

robber  is  a  self-made  thief,  and  these  policemen  in 
New  York,  whose  iniquities  are  being  uncovered, 
are  self-made  blackmailers  and  scoundrels.  And 
every  one  of  us  to-day  is  making  himself,  and  some 
of  us  have  been  at  work  a  good  while.  We  have 
had  other  opportunities,  we  have  held  clews  in  our 
hands.  We  have  made  discoveries,  we  have  had 
strength.  Whether  we  have  used  these  things  and 
profited  by  them  or  not,  we  are  self-made.  There 
is  no  other  lesson  that  needs  more  constant  and  per- 
sistent emphasis  put  upon  it  in  our  time  than  this 
great  truth  of  our  personal,  individual  accountability 
to  God  for  our  daily  lives  and  for  the  result  of  them 
in  character. 

You  remember  the  Scripture  lesson  from  the 
thirty-second  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Exodus,  which 
tells  the  story  of  how  the  people  became  impatient 
and  faithless  during  the  absence  of  Moses  on  Mount 
Sinai,  and  how  Aaron  took  the  gold  that  the  peo- 
ple brought  him  and  made  a  calf  for  them  to 
worship.  But  when  Moses  came  back  and  re- 
proached him  for  it  Aaron  was  frightened  and  stam- 
mered out  his  pitiful  excuse :  "  I  said  unto  them, 
whosoever  hath  any  gold,  let  them  break  it  off.  So 
they  gave  it  me :  then  I  cast  it  into  the  fire,  and 
there  came  out  this  calf."  He  did  not  make  the 
idol.  O,  no  ;  not  by  any  means !  It  was  the 
naughty  fire  that  made  it.  He  only  threw  the  gold 
in,  and  was  not  responsible  for  the  results.  It  was 
truly  a  very  strange  and  wonderful  thing  that  it 
should  have  run  together  and  become  a  calf;  but  it 
was  the  fire  that  did  it.  Alas,  how  many  piti- 
ful cowards  like  Aaron  there  are  in  the  world  to-day ! 


140  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Men  do  what  they  know  to  be  wrong.  They  do  it 
deHberately  and  knowingly,  and  then  try  to  throw 
the  blame  on  somebody  or  something  else. 

Mr.  D.  L.  Moody  says  that  he  once  went  from 
cell  to  cell  in  the  Sing  Sing  prison  and  talked  with 
a  large  number  of  the  prisoners  ;  but  he  found  only 
one  man  out  of  the  whole  lot  who  confessed  that  he 
was  guilty  and  ought  to  be  punished.  All  the  oth- 
ers were,  according  to  their  stories,  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  circumstances.  One  man  was  drunk, 
and,  meeting  another  man  as  he  was  staggering 
home,  he  thought  he  would  play  the  part  of  a  rob- 
ber just  for  fun.  So  he  pointed  his  pistol  at  the 
other  man,  and  the  pistol  went  off  of  itself  and 
killed  him.  He  did  not  mean  to  do  it.  The  pistol 
was  to  blame.  Another  man  had  been  found  guilty 
of  forgery ;  but  he  was  as  innocent  as  a  newborn 
babe.  The  pen  somehow  would  write  somebody 
else's  name  on  the  paper.  The  pen  was  to  blame ; 
he  did  nothing  but  hold  it. 

And  this  is  how  it  is  outside  of  prison  everywhere. 
A  young  man  breaks  his  mother's  heart  by  some 
shameful  debauch,  and  he  assures  her  that  he  never 
meant  to  do  anything  wrong.  Some  fellow-student 
or  fellow-clerk  led  him  astray  and  then  left  him  in 
the  lurch.  And  if  you  rise  up  out  of  this  sort  of  sin 
and  indulgence  and  ask  a  man  who  has  lost  his  spirit- 
ual vitality,  his  love  for  the  house  of  God,  his  de- 
light in  the  class  meeting,  his  ready  word  of  experi- 
ence and  testimony  for  Christ,  his  devotion  to  win- 
ning souls,  he  will  say  :  ''  My  business  has  been  so 
engrossing  I  had  to  leave  too  early  or  get  home  too 
late  to    have  family  prayers.     My  health  requires 


YESTERDAY.  141 

that  I  should  have  recreation  class  meeting  nights. 
I  was  so  exhausted  that  I  found  it  necessary  to  sleep 
late  on  Sunday  morning."  And  so  he  will  go  on 
for  a  half  hour  if  need  be  ;  but  the  result  and  sub- 
stance of  it  all  is  this,  that  his  heart  is  cold  and  in- 
different toward  God  and  the  church,  that  the  story 
of  Christ's  dying  love  for  him  no  longer  awakes 
tears  of  gratitude,  that  the  opportunity  to  seek  and 
save  a  lost  sinner,  which  makes  angels  glad,  no 
longer  arouses  him  to  enthusiasm.  And  he  is  not 
to  blame  for  it.  It  was  his  business,  his  compan- 
ions, his  surroundings.  Like  Aaron,  he  put  the 
gold  into  the  fire,  ''  and  there  came  out  this  calf." 
And  yet  we  know  that  Aaron  intended  to  make  a 
calf  from  the  start  ;  for  after  it  was  molded  he  fash- 
ioned it  with  a  graving  tool.  And  yet  he  told 
Moses  that  the  fire  made  the  calf.  He  invoked  the 
agency  of  the  fire  to  accomplish  his  foolish  and 
wicked  purpose,  and  then  laid  the  blame  on  it. 

The  truth  is  that,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a 
hundred,  men's  excuses  for  their  sins  are  just  as  bad 
as  Aaron's  was.  They  knew  that  they  were  putting 
themselves  in  association  with  persons  and  things 
that  could  not  help  but  deteriorate  their  moral 
nature.  If  a  man  handles  pitch  it  is  his  own  fault 
that  his  hands  are  soiled.  He  cannot  lay  the  blame 
on  the  pitch,  for  it  is  its  nature  to  defile,  and  he 
knows  it.  With  many  people  business  association 
is  the  fire  out  of  which  comes  the  calf  which  they 
worship.  They  take  the  pure  gold  of  boyhood  and 
young  manhood  into  some  place  of  business  to  earn 
their  living.     They  intend  to  be  honest,  but  above 

all  they  intend  to  make  money.     They  find  that 
10 


142  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

competition  is  very  keen  and  sharp  on  every  side. 
They  come  to  know  after  a  while  that  certain  prac- 
tices of  doubtful  honesty  are  common,  customary, 
and  that,  in  the  language  of  the  street,  "  everybody 
does  so."  They  yield  to  the  temptation  and  sacri- 
fice their  conscience  to  custom.  They  know  that 
what  they  do  is  wrong,  but  they  excuse  themselves 
by  saying,  '*  It  is  the  fault  of  the  business,  and  not 
mine."  And  so  they  go  on  casting  their  personal 
guilt  upon  the  scapegoat  of  circumstances,  and  half 
believe  in  their  own  false  and  flimsy  excuses. 

Phillips  Brooks  never  said  anything  with  more  in- 
sight into  human  life,  which  he  knew  so  well,  than 
this,  that  there  are  currents  of  bad  influence  flowing 
always  in  all  directions.  There  is  a  perpetual  river 
flowing  toward  sensuality  and  vice.  There  is  a 
river  flowing  perpetually  toward  hypocrisy  and  re- 
ligious pretense.  There  is  a  river  always  running 
toward  skepticism  and  infidelity.  And  when  you 
have  once  given  yourself  up  to  either  of  these  rivers 
there  is  enough  in  the  swirl  of  the  waters  about  your 
boat  and  in  the  stress  of  the  current  beneath  your 
keel  to  make  you  lose  the  conscious  remembrance 
that  it  is  by  your  own  will  that  you  are  there. 

There  is  no  hope  for  any  man  or  any  woman  who 
will  thus  seek  to  palliate  and  excuse  personal  guilt. 
If  the  prodigal  in  the  Saviour's  parable  had  come 
laying  his  degradation  on  the  hogs  or  on  his  fast 
friends  that  brought  him  into  association  with  them, 
he  would  have  turned  all  the  father's  welcome  to 
bitterness  and  grief.  But  when  he  came  crying,  "  I 
have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  in  thy  sight,  and  am 
no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son,"  he  showed 


YESTERDAY.  143 

that  he  was  earnest  and  sincere.  May  God  grant 
us  every  one,  in  the  ciiurch  or  out  of  the  church,  a 
keen  sense  of  our  personal  responsibiHty  to  God  and 
a  conscientious  purpose  to  search  our  own  hearts 
by  the  light  of  God's  Spirit ! 

There  is  this  further  thought  which  I  wish  to  em- 
phasize. The  opportunities  to  do  things  yesterday 
closed  with  yesterday.  So  each  to-day  is  finishing 
up  a  personal  record  of  its  own.  A  story  is  told  of 
an  English  minister  who,  being  called  to  pray  by 
the  bedside  of  a  dying  man,  sought  to  take  him  by 
the  hand  in  token  of  their  agreement  in  offering 
united  prayer.  The  sick  man  withheld  his  hand, 
keeping  it  under  the  bedclothes,  and  the  minister 
prayed  without  it.  Presently  the  man  died  ;  and 
then  as  his  hand  was  uncovered  the  mystery  was 
explained.  He  was  holding  in  his  hand  with  the 
grasp  of  death  a  key — the  key  of  his  safe  where  his 
money  was  kept. 

A  newspaper  published  in  Lewlston,  Me.,  related 
some  time  since  a  similar  story,  concerning  a  man 
in  the  town  of  Durham  in  that  State.  The  man  was 
very  penurious  and  very  determined.  He  died  at 
an  advanced  age.  On  his  deathbed  he  kept  his 
right  hand  closely  clasped.  As  he  drew  his  last 
breath  he  tightened  his  hold.  Everybody  there 
knew  what  he  held  in  that  hand.  It  was  the  key 
to  the  chest  in  which  he  kept  his  gold.  As  his 
nerveless  hand  unclosed  the  key  dropped  from  his 
fingers  and  clattered  against  the  bedside.  As  if  to 
hold  it  even  after  he  was  dead,  the  miser  had  tied 
the  key  about  his  wrist  by  a  strong  cord,  which  he 
grasped  as  long  as  life   remained.     He   could  not 


144  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

take  his  gold  with  him,  but  he  kept  the  key.  They 
buried  him  as  he  was,  with  the  key  to  his  money 
chest  tied  about  his  wrist.  And  what  became  of 
the  gold?  O,  the  heirs  took  care  of  that  just  the 
same.  They  split  open  the  chest  with  an  ax  and 
divided  the  gold,  and  let  the  miser  keep  the  key 
tied  about  his  wrist.  He  is  moldering  in  the  grave, 
and  the  key  is  rusting  beside  him.  We  brought 
nothing  into  this  world,  and  it  is  certain  we  can 
take  nothing  out  of  it  save  the  treasures  of  the  soul. 

While  this  man  lived,  while  yesterday  was  to-day, 
all  power  over  his  wealth  was  in  the  hand  that 
could  turn  that  key,  and  he  could  have  opened  that 
strong  box  and  sent  that  gold  on  whatsoever  mis- 
sion of  mercy  or  good  he  would.  But  when  the 
iron  lock  had  closed  the  gate  on  his  yesterday  how 
useless  was  the  rusting  key!  Dear  brothers  and 
sisters,  do  not  put  the  old  story  afar  off.  It  has  a 
message  for  you  and  for  me.  Day  by  day  God  gives 
to  each  one  of  us  a  strong  box  full  of  wealth,  golden 
opportunities  to  be  patient  and  kind  and  charitable 
and  faithful  and  true,  golden  words  with  which  to 
speak  messages  of  brotherly  kindness,  rapid  feet 
with  which  to  carry  messages  for  the  King,  to  bring 
cordials  of  sympathy  to  the  weary  and  the  sick  and 
the  troubled.  The  keys  are  in  our  hands.  They 
will  unlock  the  whole  storehouse  of  God  **  while  the 
day  lasts;"  but  they  are  useless,  rusty  things  when 
we  turn  with  them  toward  yesterday. 

Gradually,  but  certainly,  our  yesterdays  are  build- 
ing a  character  and  dictating  a  destiny,  not  for  to- 
day only  and  for  to-morrow,  but  for  the  never-end- 
ing day  after  to-morrow.     No  man  ever  lived  who 


YESTERDAY.  145 

was  strong  enough  to  save  himself  from  the  results 
which  had  been  builded  into  character  by  himself 
through  his  own  daily  life.  Alfred  Krupp,  or  Herr 
Krupp,  as  he  was  known,  was  called  the  cannon 
king  of  Prussia.  He  was  the  Tubal-cain  of  modern 
times,  and  his  achievements  brought  him  great  fame 
and  enormous  wealth.  But  because  of  an  evil  tem- 
per, which  he  allowed  to  grow,  in  his  treatment  of 
his  family  and  of  the  people  who  came  in  contact 
with  him,  he  became  as  harsh  and  vindictive  and 
stubborn  and  implacable  as  the  iron  out  of  which 
he  forged  instruments  of  death.  And,  strange  to 
say,  this  man,  who  was  always  devoting  his  really 
great  mental  powers  to  devise  means  for  the  de- 
struction of  life,  had  himself,  perhaps,  the  most  ter- 
rible fear  of  death  recorded  among  distinguished 
men  of  modern  times.  A  relative  of  his  wife,  while 
on  a  visit  to  his  home,  suddenly  fell  sick  and  died. 
Herr  Krupp,  when  he  heard  of  it,  refused  to  enter 
his  house,  but  fled  to  DCisseldorf,  and  stayed  there 
until  the  funeral  was  over.  Mrs.  Krupp's  very  nat- 
ural remonstrance  against  this  conduct  so  enraged 
him  that  she  found  it  impossible  to  live  longer  with 
him.  The  weakness  which  sent  this  ''  man  of  iron  " 
flying  from  a  funeral  scene  grew  into  the  great  tor- 
ment of  his  life.  He  never  forgave  anyone  who 
spoke  to  him  of  dying.  The  greatest  manufacturer 
of  death  could  not  bear  the  thought  or  mention  of 
death.  It  was  a  standing  order  throughout  his  vast 
works  that  anyone  referring  to  the  subject  of  death 
in  conversation  was  to  be  discharged  on  the  spot. 
As  Krupp  grew  old  the  horror  of  the  inevitable  end 
constantly  haunted   him.     And  finally,  when  sick- 


146  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

ness  came,  all  the  most  famous  doctors  in  the  Ger- 
man empire  were  sent  for  in  turn  to  attend  the 
unhappy  millionaire.  The  last  to  be  called  was 
Bismarck's  physician,  Dr.  Schweninger.  A  few 
days  before  his  death  he  said  to  him,  ''  My  dear 
doctor,  make  me  live  ten  years  longer  and  I  will 
gladly  give  you  a  million."  How  like  the  dying 
shriek  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  "  Millions  of  money  for 
an  inch  of  time  !  " 

Let  me  put  over  against  the  old  Prussian  cannon 
king  plain  John  Dubois,  the  Pennsylvania  lumber 
king.  You  may  find  his  name  over  there  yet  in  the 
town  which  his  enterprise  created.  Thousands  of 
men  in  the  great  forests  and  along  the  rivers  gath- 
ered and  rafted  his  logs,  and  many  hundreds  more 
in  mills  and  shops  worked  them  into  a  part  of  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  Every  man  in  his  shops 
and  mills,  and  most  of  those  in  the  forests,  he  per- 
sonally knew,  and  he  treated  them  with  as  much 
kindness  and  courtesy  as  if  they  were  partners  in 
his  great  business.  The  most  obscure  worker  among 
all  his  employees  knew  that  he  had  in  him  a  kind 
friend.  Once,  when  times  were  hard  and  the 
price  of  lumber  fell  so  low  as  to  cut  off  all  profits  in 
the  business,  his  managers  concluded  that  the  men's 
wages  must  be  reduced  and  presented  to  him  a 
a  schedule  of  rates.  Mr.  Dubois  looked  over  the 
figures,  kept  them  a  day  and  a  night,  and  then  told 
the  managers  that  he  could  not  take  anything  from 
the  workmen's  earnings.  **  I  find  on  investigation," 
he  said,  *'  that  these  men  have  all  they  can  do  now 
to  pay  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  I  can  stand 
the  loss  better  than  they  can." 


YESTERDAY.  147 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  such  a  man  never 
had  any  labor  troubles.  When  he  came  to  his  last 
illness  and  found  that  the  end  was  near  his  heart 
was  with  his  men,  and  he  had  fifty  or  more  of  his 
overseers  summoned  to  his  sick  room  and  talked  to 
them.  And  the  men  went  away  saying  that  they 
had  never  heard  such  a  Christian  sermon  before  in 
their  lives.  His  only  regret  was  that  he  had  not 
preached  Christ  personally  as  much  to  the  men  as  he 
ought.  ^'  I  am  willing  to  die,"  he  told  them  ;  **  but 
if  God  would  give  me  another  year  I  would  spend 
it  in  preaching  Christ  to  the  men  in  the  mills." 
These  sturdy  lumbermen  were  rugged  men,  unused 
to  melting  moods,  but  the  tears  ran  down  their 
cheeks  while  he  spoke  to  them  and,  calling  each  one 
of  them  by  name,  with  a  ''God  bless  you,"  bade 
them  good-bye.  Only  three  days  afterward  he 
quietly  breathed  his  last. 

"  There  was  no  anguish  on  his  brow. 
No  terror  in  his  eye." 

How  strangely  fitting  and  characteristic  were  the 
deaths  of  these  men.  Terribly  so  was  that  of  the 
great  artificer  of  war,  who  was  borne  on  into  the 
eternal  shadows  fighting  and  fearing  his  fate ;  but 
the  man  of  peace,  when  his  time  came,  had  only  to 
fall  asleep.  How  immeasurably  greater  was  he  than 
the  other !  Brothers  and  sisters,  what  kind  of  char- 
acter and  destiny  are  your  yesterdays  building? 

I  cannot  close  this  sermon,  so  terribly  sad  in  its 
heart-searching  questions,  without  throwing  out  the 
Gospel  line  of  hope  to  any  that  are  willing  here  and 
now  to  repent  of  their  sins  and  lay  hold  upon  the 


148  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Saviour.  You  cannot  change  the  deeds  of  yester- 
day— not  even  the  omnipotent  hand  of  the  Al- 
mighty can  do  that,  not  even  the  compassionate, 
nail-wounded  hand  of  Jesus  the  Crucified  can  do 
that.  But,  blessed  be  God !  if  we  repent  of  our 
sins  and  with  open  heart  confess  them  "  he  is  faith- 
ful and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,"  and  the  body  of 
death  may  be  separated  from  us ;  and  with  a  new 
purpose  and  a  new  hope,  born  of  a  sense  of  God's 
forgiving  love,  we  may  enter  upon  new  lives  as  new 
creatures  in  Christ  Jesus. 

There  may  be  thorns  in  your  past,  but  over  them 
God  will  lay  the  pillow  of  Jesus's  dying  love  for 
your  soul.  Paxton  Hood  tells  that  he  visited  his 
beloved  friend  Benjamin  Parsons  when  he  was  dying. 
And  that  good  man  said  to  him,  ''  My  head  is  rest- 
ing very  sweetly  on  three  pillows — infinite  Power, 
infinite  Love,  and  infinite  Wisdom."  Preaching 
some  time  afterward,  he  related  the  incident ;  and 
some  months  later  he  was  requested  to  call  upon  a 
young  woman  who  was  apparently  dying.  She  said  : 
^'  I  felt  I  must  see  you  before  I  die.  I  heard  you 
tell  the  story  of  Benjamin  Parsons  and  his  three 
pillows ;  and  when  I  went  through  a  surgical  opera- 
tion, and  it  was  very  cruel,  I  was  leaning  my  head 
upon  pillows  ;  and  as  they  were  taking  them  away 
I  said,  '  Mayn't  I  keep  them?'  The  surgeon  said, 
*  No,  my  dear,  we  must  take  them  away.'  *  But,' 
said  I,  '  you  can't  take  away  Benjamin  Parsons's 
three  pillows ;  I  can  lay  my  head  on  infinite  Power, 
infinite  Love,  and  infinite  Wisdom.'  " 


WEALTH  IN  SPIRITUAL  UTTERANCE.  149 


XIII. 

THE   CONDITIONS   OF  WEALTH  IN   SPIRITUAL 

UTTERANCE. 

"In  everything:  ye  ar-  enriched  by  him,    in  all  utterance,  and  in  all 
knowledge." — i  Cor,  i,  5. 

ONE  of  the  beneficent  miracles  which  bright- 
ened the  Saviour's  path  during  his  short  and 
glorious  life  in  Palestine  was  that  he  made  the  dumb 
to  speak.  And  Paul  proclaims  in  our  text  that  the 
Saviour  has  not  }'et  lost  this  power;  for  he  declares 
to  these  Corinthian  Christians,  "  Ye  are  enriched  by 
him,  in  all  utterance."  And,  indeed,  it  was  given 
as  one  of  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  pen- 
tecostal  periods  after  our  Lord's  ascension,  in  the 
descriptions  of  the  work  of  the  disciples,  that  ''the 
Spirit  gave  them  utterance." 

It  is  undoubtedly  the  desire  of  our  Saviour  that 
we  .should  all  be  Vv^itnesses  for  him  and  to  him,  not 
only  by  our  actions,  but  by  the  marvelous  gift  of 
speech  and  conversation.  I  think,  also,  that  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  this  gift  of  helpful  spiritual 
utterance  is  within  the  reach  of  every  sincere  and 
honest  Christian.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  every- 
one should  have  the  same  ability  to  .speak,  for  there 
is  a  great  diversity  of  the  measure  of  gifts  given  to 
us  in  every  department  of  human  life  ;  but  what  I 
do  mean  is  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  anybody  to  go 


150  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

along  the  King's  highway  tongue-tied  and  dumb. 
I  am  sure  that  it  is  a  matter  for  serious  contempla- 
tion and  for  great  sorrow  that  there  are  such  large 
companies  who  walk  speechless  in  silent  march, 
like  the  ghosts  of  Christians,  taking  their  praiseless 
way  toward  the  heavenly  home.  How  many  there 
are  who  are  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  their  in- 
tention and  purpose,  and  yet  no  joyous  word  of 
gracious,  loving  invitation  breaks  from  their  silent 
lips,  no  glad  cry  of  victory  or  thanksgiving  ever 
bursts  from  their  muffled  mouths. 

I  should  be  very  sorry  if,  in  trying  to  help  people 
who  honestly  feel  that  they  are  deficient  in  expres- 
sion, I  should  hurt  them  ;  but  the  company  is  so 
large  and  the  duty  of  breaking,  if  possible,  the 
silence  of  any  Christian  into  thankful  testimony 
so  great,  that  I  feel  it  worth  the  trial.  I  think  it 
would  help  a  great  many  people  if  they  would  con- 
sider this,  that  the  natural  ability  to  be  fluent  or 
brilliant  in  conversation  or  public  speech  has  very 
little,  if  anything,  to  do  with  its  spiritual  effect ;  and 
that  oftentimes  people  who  have  no  brilliancy  of 
speech  at  all  and  speak  with  the  greatest  hesitancy 
and  embarrassment  to  themselves  have,  through  the 
spiritual  unction  which  is  granted  to  them  in  direct 
answer  to  prayer,  remarkable  influence  and  power 
in  bearing  testimony  to  the  Lord  Jesus. 

I  do  not  doubt  there  are  those  now  near  me  who 
have  a  sincere  longing  to  be  able  to  bear  open  tes- 
timony to  the  Saviour  who  has  done  so  much  to 
bless  and  gladden  their  hearts  and  lives.  I  have 
no  doubt  many  here  could  join  in  this  prayer  of 
Katharine  Lente  Stevenson  : 


WEALTH  IN  SPIRITUAL  UTTERANCE.  151 

"  Lord,  give  me  words  ! 
Thy  thoughts  move  in  my  being's  deepest  deep 

As,  'neath  old  ocean's  calm  or  storm-tossed  main, 
The  tide  swells,  though  the  billows  wake  or  sleep ; 
I  feel  thy  pulsings  in  each  swift  heartbeat ; 

I  breathe  thee  in  each  breath  of  joy  or  pain ; 

But,  O,  to  speak  thee  forth  were  bliss  complete ! 

Lord,  give  me  words  ! 

"  Lord,  give  me  words  ! 
Heaven's  songs  echo,  ecstatic,  on  my  ear ; 

The  anthem-swell  before  the  great  white  throng. 
In  moments  rare,  with  my  soul's  soul  I  hear ; 
I  catch  the  song  the  morning  stars  glad  sing — 

The  sphere's  deep  music  through  each  radiant  zone. 
Could  I  such  symphonies  to  earth  but  bring ! 
Lord,  give  me  words  ! 

"  Lord,  give  me  words  ! 
I  grope,  blind,  in  thy  being's  deep  abyss  ; 

Thou  who  art  light,  through  my  dense  darkness  shine 
One  ray  of  palpable,  white,  burning  bliss ! 
Give  me  one  song  which  shall  such  echoes  wake 

In  other  hearts  as  have  been  waked  in  mine ! 
One  strain  of  perfect  concord  let  me  make  ! 
Lord,  give  me  words ! 

"  Lord,  give  me  words  ! 
I'm  dumb  ;  I  have  no  might  to  speak  thy  thoughts  ; 

My  lips  have  felt  no  thrill  of  angel's  touch. 
With  burning  coal  from  life's  great  altar  brought ; 
Dumb,  voiceless,  inarticulate,  I  grope 

About  the  gates  of  speech.     O  Christ,  thou  pitiedst  such ; 
Thou  once  didst  touch  sealed  lips ;  grant  me,  too,  hope, 
And  give  me  words  !  " 

I  am  sure  that  such  a  prayer  is  proper  and  right, 
and  that  among  the  ascension  gifts  which  the  Sav- 
iour obtained  for  us,  when  he  led  captivity  captive 


152  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

and  received  gifts  for  men,  was  the  power  to  enrich 
those  who  love  him  and  who  ask  for  it  in  utterance. 
I  do  not  think  that  your  natural  gift  of  utterance 
has  anything  to  do  with  it.  The  less  ability  you 
have  by  nature  the  more  it  is  possible  you  may  have 
by  God's  gift,  in  spiritual  effectiveness.  And  surely 
you  cannot  put  this  aside  and  say  it  cannot  mean 
you  because  you  have  such  a  poverty  of  utterance, 
because  the  very  word  which  is  used,  ''enrichment," 
signifies  that  it  is  bestowed  upon  people  who  are 
now  poor.  You  cannot  enrich  a  man  who  is  already 
very  wealthy.  The  very  word  ''  enrichment  "  indi- 
cates that  there  have  been  meagerness,  poverty,  and 
severe  limitation.  But  if  a  man  is  very  poor  you  can 
enrich  him  ;  and  that  is  just  what  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  will  do  for  every  Christian  who,  with  a  sincere 
heart,  seeks  for  the  blessed  gift  of  Christian  utter- 
ance, the  power  of  great  expression  by  word  of  the 
soul's  love  to  Christ  and  of  its  perception  of  his  un- 
speakable love  in  return.  If  the  desire  of  your 
heart  is  great  enough  for  such  an  utterance  it  is 
surely  possible. 

How  may  we  obtain  this  gift  of  utterance  ?  Very 
naturally,  of  course,  the  man  who  wrote  this  first 
sentence  which  we  are  studying  is  the  very  best 
authority  to  explain  to  us  how  we  may  find  it. 
When  we  turn  over  to  the  second  letter  of  Paul  to 
these  Corinthian  Christians,  we  are  told  what  sort 
of  individual  Paul  expected  to  find  rich  in  spiritual 
utterance.  In  the  midst  of  an  exhortation  to  culti- 
vate the  grace  of  liberality,  in  the  seventh  verse  of 
the  eighth  chapter  of  Second  Corinthians,  he  says  : 
*'  Therefore,  as  ye   abound   in  everything,  in  faith, 


WEALTH  IN  SPIRITUAL  UTTERANCE.  153 

and  utterance,  and  knowledge,  and  in  all  diligence, 
and  in  your  love  to  us,  see  that  ye  abound  in  this 
grace  also."  Now  if  we  accept  these  words  of  Paul 
as  expressing  his  mind  on  the  subject  it  is  very  easy 
for  us  to  settle  upon  some  of  the  definite  conditions 
from  which  springs  a  rich  spiritual  utterance. 

First,  it  springs  from  a  strong  faith.    *'  I  believed, 
therefore  have  I  spoken,"  said  a  good  man  of  the 
olden  time.     The  man  who  doubts  is  always  hesi- 
tating and  uncertain,  and  naturally  poverty-stricken 
in  helpful  speech.     A  deep,  intense  faith  forces  an 
utterance,  as  the  upswelling  fountain  forces  an  out- 
let for  its  waters.     The  man  of  faith  always  has  an 
experience  to  talk  about  which  is  rich  to  hear.   I  do 
not  mean  by  faith  a  mere  intellectual  assent  to  some 
creed,  but  a  vital,  acting  faith,  such  as  the  farmer 
has  in  autumn  about  the  coming  of  winter,  which 
causes  him  to  fill  the  garner  full  of  stores  against 
the   days  of  storm   and   cold  ;  such  a  faith  as  Dr. 
Joseph  Parker  illustrates  by  the  sailor's  belief  that 
the  river  runs  to  the  sea,  and  that  the  sea  is  large 
enough  to  sustain  his  ship.     It  is  acting  upon  such 
a  faith  when  he  launches  his  vessel.     If  the  vessel  is 
left  standing  on  the  stocks  w^hen  she  is  finished,  then 
all  his  praises  of  the  ocean  go  for  nothing.  It  would 
have  been  better  never  to  have  built  the  ship  than 
to    leave    her    unlaunched — a    monument    of    his 
scientific  belief,  but  also  a  testimony  to  his  practical 
infidelity. 

Our  faith  in  God  is  a  seagoing  ship.  It  is  meant 
for  the  wide  waters  of  the  great  deep.  We  are  to  sail 
out  beyond  the  reach  of  buoys  or  lighthouses  and 
take  our  reckoning  from  the  Star  of  Bethlehem  at 


154  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

night  and  from  the  Sun  of  righteousness  by  day. 
This  is  a  Hving  faith.  To  simply  beheve  in  God  in 
your  head,  by  intellectual  assent,  is  like  sitting  in  a 
ship  that  is  rotting  down  by  the  dock,  because  she 
is  chained  to  her  moorings.  But  to  believe  in  God 
with  all  your  heart,  surrendering  to  him  your  will 
and  your  love,  is  to  cut  loose  from  the  moorings  and 
sail  out  upon  the  great  ocean,  trusting  him  under  all 
circumstances,  crying  out,  with  the  Old  Testament 
hero,  *'  What  time  I  am  afraid,  I  will  trust  in  thee,'* 
and  "  I  will  say  of  the  Lord,  He  is  my  refuge  and 
my  fortress :  my  God  ;  in  him  will  I  trust."  And, 
my  friends,  just  as  surely  as  the  sailor  has  a  log  book 
full  of  interesting  reminiscences  of  sky  and  sea  and 
storm,  so  the  voyager  of  faith  will  have  a  log  book 
full  of  interesting  reminiscences  of  sea  and  storm 
and  sky.  Not  only  stories  of  fightings  in  the  teeth 
of  the  gale,  but  of  sweet  communion  with  the 
dwellers  above  the  sky. 

The  utterance  of  such  an  experimental  faith  is 
always  rich  in  influence.  It  is  related  that  Bishop 
Kavanaugh  was  walking  one  day  when  he  met  a 
prominent  physician,  who  offered  him  a  seat  in  his 
carriage.  The  physician  was  an  infidel,  and  the  con- 
versation turned  upon  religion.  "  I  am  surprised," 
said  the  doctor,  ''  that  such  an  intelligent  man  as 
you  should  believe  such  an  old  fable  as  that."  The 
bishop  said,  '*  Doctor,  suppose  years  ago  some  one 
had  recommended  to  you  a  prescription  for  pulmo- 
nary consumption,  and  you  had  procured  the  pre- 
scription and  taken  it  according  to  order  and  had 
been  cured  of  that  terrible  disease.  What  would 
you    say    of  the    man    who    would    not    try   your 


WEALTH  IN  SPIRITUAL  UTTERANCE.  155 

prescription  ? "  '*  I  should  say  he  was  a  fool." 
•'  Twenty-five  years  ago,"  said  Kavanaugh,  *'  I 
tried  the  power  of  God's  grace.  It  made  a  different 
man  of  me.  All  these  years  I  have  preached  salva- 
tion, and  wherever  accepted  I  have  never  known  it 
to  fail."  What  could  the  doctor  say  to  such  testi- 
mony as  that?  And  such  testimonies  have  more 
power  in  turning  men  from  the  error  of  their  ways 
to  the  personal  experience  of  the  saving  power  of 
Jesus  Christ  than  anything  else. 

**  How  would  you  prove  the  divinity  of  Christ?" 
said  some  ministers  to  a  young  backwoods  preacher 
whom  they  were  examining.  **  What  ?  "  said  he, 
puzzled  by  their  question.  ''  How  would  you  prove 
the  divinity  of  Christ  ?  "  '*  Why,  he  saved  my  soul," 
was  the  triumphant  reply.  But  to  give  this  answer 
with  effectiveness  and  power  one  must  be  saved  and 
know  it  in  his  heart  and  show  it  in  his  life  ;  and  he 
then  becomes  a  living  epistle,  known  and  read  of  all 
men.  Nothing  could  be  more  fruitless  than  the 
hollow  expression  of  faith  that  has  no  heart  behind 
it.  But  with  a  sincere  heart  throbbing  behind  the 
utterance,  it  is  the  very  message  of  God  to  those  who 
hear. 

A  rich  utterance  springs  from  a  full  knowledge. 
It  is  worth  noticing  and  very  significant  that,  in  both 
these  striking  statements  of  Paul  in  his  letters  to 
the  Corinthians,  knowledge  and  utterance  are  closely 
linked  together.  Is  it  not  true  that  many  times  we 
are  very  shy  about  uttering  words  about  our  Saviour 
when  our  restraint  is,  not  that  we  are  so  timid  or 
diffident,  but  because  our  knowledge  of  the  Lord  is 
not   very    recent?     A    lamp    always   gives    a  poor 


156  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

light,  no  matter  how  good  the  wick  or  how  clear  the 
chimney,  when  the  oil  is  out.  The  Lord  will  not 
quench  smoking  flax,  he  will  be  very  tender  with  a 
wick  that  is  out  of  order,  but  there  is  no  possibility 
of  getting  light  where  there  is  no  oil.  The  lamp 
ceases  to  have  utterance  because  all  its  stores  of  utter- 
ance are  impoverished.  Of  course  we  cannot  expect 
to  express  life  when  we  haven't  it.  The  root  of  all 
effective  spiritual  utterance  is  a  knowledge  of  God, 
a  rich  acquaintance  with  spiritual  things. 

It  is  natural  when  anything  is  over  full  that  it 
w\\\  overflow.  The  mouth  speaks  out  of  the  abun- 
dance of  what  is  in  the  heart.  That  is  the  Saviour's 
own  figure.  And  so  we  will  very  naturally  talk 
about  the  things  we  know  most  about  and  are  most 
interested  in.  General  Grant  was  once  criticised  by 
a  public  man  as  an  ignoramus,  who  knew  nothing 
about  anything  except  horses.  When  the  accu- 
sation was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  silent 
man  of  Appomattox  he  remarked  that,  when  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  hold  conversation  with  others, 
he  always  tried  to  find  out  the  one  subject  on  which 
they  were  most  intelligent  and  endeavor  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  occasion.  If  one  is  wrapped  up  in 
business,  that  is  what  one  will  naturally  talk  about. 
Where  one's  treasure  is  there  one's  heart  will  be, 
and  the  utterance  will  give  expression  to  what  is  in 
the  heart.  We  may  force  ourselves  to  talk  about 
other  tilings,  but  helpful  utterance  will  always  be 
linked  with  knowledge.  An  empty  head  or  an 
empty  heart  cannot  give  out  intellectual  or  spiritual 
riches,  any  more  than  an  empty  vault  can  give  out 
gold  or  an  empty  reservoir  send  out  cooling  streams 


WEALTH  IN  SPIRITUAL  UTTERANCE.  157 

of  water.  If  we  are  to  have  a  rich  spiritual  utter- 
ance we  must  have  a  heart  full  of  rich  treasure.  We 
must  enrich  our  storehouse  with  the  knowledge  of 
God,  through  his  word  and  through  his  revelation 
of  himself  to  our  hearts  and  to  other  Christians. 

Are  there  not  those  here  who  might  have  well 
said  to  the  Lord,  as  they  sat  down  here  to  enter 
upon  this  service  :  "  O  Lord,  I  confess  unto  thee 
that  I  have  given  very  little  time  indeed  to  the 
study  of  thy  word  during  the  last  year,  but  I  have 
never  failed  to  read  the  daily  paper.  I  have  not 
delighted  in  thy  law  by  day  or  night,  but  I  kept 
well  up  on  the  discussions  on  the  strike  and  the 
revelations  of  the  Lexow  Committee.  I  have  not 
failed  to  search  diligently  the  columns  of  the  Trib- 
une, or  the  Herald^  the  World,  or  the  Eagle,  or  the 
Standard-Union.  Lord,  do  I  not  deserve  some 
credit  for  this  ?  If,  alas,  thy  word  has  not  been  stead- 
ily a  light  unto  my  feet,  still  the  electric  lights  of 
men  have  thrown  a  moonlight  splendor  over  my  en- 
tire inner  consciousness.  I  do  not  perceive  very 
clearly  thy  presence  in  my  daily  life,  and  I  do  not 
greatly  enjoy  the  more  spiritual  services  of  thy 
house,  but  I  still  cling  to  the  orthodox  faith  of  the 
fathers  and  desire  to  be  counted  among  thy  follow- 
ers.'* I  wonder  if  that  would  not  be  a  pretty  cor- 
rect statement  of  the  condition  of  some  hearts  ? 

And  if  there  are  any  here  who  have  given  them- 
selves up  to  read  the  Sunday  paper  this  morning  as 
a  prelude  to  coming  to  the  worship  of  God,  then 
your  minds  are  probably  in  a  still  worse  condition. 
Did  you  ever  in  the  summer  time,  when  you  were 

out   in   the  country,  put  on  your  best   clothes  on 
11 


158  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Sunday  morning  and  go  out  for  a  stroll  through 
the  pastures  and  woods,  and  come  through  a  miser- 
able patch  of  weeds  or  walk  home  by  a  dusty  road, 
and  find  when  you  got  home  that  your  clothes  were 
covered  with  dust  and  cockle  burs  and  discolored 
with  all  sorts  of  weeds  and  dirt?  If  so,  your  outward 
condition  at  such  a  time  for  appearance  in  the  house 
of  God  would  be  something  to  compare  with  the 
inward  condition  of  a  man's  mind  and  heart  wdio 
has  been  reading  the  secular  Sunday  paper  on  Sun- 
day morning,  and  comes  to  church  to  undertake  to 
worship  God  with  all  the  dust  and  cockle  burs  and 
gossips  and  scandals — the  most  trashy  and  the  least 
valuable  of  all  the  utterances  of  the  daily  press — 
obtruding  themselves  in  his  mind  and  heart.  No 
wonder  that  such  a  person  has  nothing  helpful  to  say 
in  a  spiritual  meeting.  Depend  upon  it  that  if  you 
are  to  be  helpful  in  spiritual  utterance  your  heart 
must  be  a  treasure  house  of  spiritual  knowledge. 

A  rich  utterance  springs  from  a  diligent  soul. 
No  lips  were  ever  so  rich  in  utterance  as  those  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  none  was  ever  so  sleeplessly  dili- 
gent as  he.  In  three  short  years  he  so  touched  the 
life  of  his  time,  indeed  so  impressed  the  heart  of 
humanity  itself,  that  he  becomes  more  powerful  in 
the  world  every  year ;  and  his  utterances  made  to 
those  simple  peasants  in  Palestine  have  become  the 
richest  and  sweetest  utterances  of  all  languages  to 
ever-increasing  millions  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
He  went  about  doing  good  ;  and  out  of  this  daily 
service,  as  he  went  on  his  mission  of  mercy  and  sal- 
vation, the  rich  utterances  which  revealed  the  heart 
of  God  sprang  as  naturally  to  his  lips  as  any  other 


WEALTH  IN  SPIRITUAL  UTTERANCE.  159 

conversations  that  are  recorded  in  human  history. 
If  we  shall  go  about  doing  good  as  did  our  Master, 
filling  our  lives  with  gracious  deeds,  carrying  on  our 
hearts  the  sorrows  and  the  weaknesses  of  the  op- 
pressed and  infirm,  working  in  fellowship  with  God, 
seeking  to  bring  gladness  to  the  disconsolate  and 
the  weary,  rich  spiritual  utterance  will  come  to  us 
that  will  be  full  of  blessing  to  those  who  hear  it. 

A  Christian  merchant  in  New  York  city  was  one 
day  passing  out  of  a  warehouse  where  he  had  been 
doing  some  business,  when  he  met  near  the  door 
one  of  the  clerks  with  whom  he  was  acquainted. 
He  was  in  a  great  hurry,  but  he  took  the  time  to 
lay  his  hand   gently  on  the  young   man's  shoulder 

and  say  kindly  and  earnestly,  "  My  dear ,  3/ou 

ought  to  be  with  us."  He  passed  on,  not  knowing 
at  the  time  whether  any  impression  had  been  made 
by  the  remark.  But  the  gentle  utterance,  given 
power  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  found  its  w^ay  to  the  heart 
of  the  young  man,  and  in  a  little  while  he  was  with 
them  in  heavenly  fellov/ship. 

Finally,  a  rich  utterance  springs  from  a  generous 
soul.  A  half-hearted,  hesitating  service  is  generally 
irksome  and  unprofitable  to  everybody  connected 
with  it.  This  is  just  as  true  about  religion  as  it  is 
about  anything  else.  A  man  who  dallies  with  his 
religious  privileges  and  is  half  afraid  to  commit  him- 
self to  the  Lord  or  to  the  devil  is  in  the  condition 
of  those  people  about  whom  the  Saviour  speaks,  in 
the  Book  of  Revelation,  and  of  whom  he  says, ''  Be- 
cause thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot, 
I  will  spew  thee  out  of  my  mouth."  You  must  give 
your  whole  heart  and  life  to  the  Lord  if  you  would 


160  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

have  rich  spiritual  experience,  a  joyous  Christian 
life,  and  a  spiritual  ability  in  conversation  to  make 
the  heavenly  visions  that  come  to  you  a  blessing  to 
others.  It  is  not  so  much  the  am.ount  of  your  gifts 
that  makes  you  valuable  to  the  church  or  to  the 
world  as  that,  first  of  all,  you  give  yourself.  If  you 
do  that,  no  matter  how  small  the  self  seems  to  be 
that  you  have  to  give,  God  will  enlarge  and  bless 
your  soul  and  fill  it  with  rich  treasures  that  shall 
overflow  to  bless  all  other  lives. 

Some  one  says,  very  beautifully,  that  the  smallest 
bar  of  song  breathed  into  the  world  adds  its  sweet- 
ness to  the  world's  music.  The  right  thing  you  did 
yesterday  made  the  world  a  little  better,  made  it 
easier,  too,  for  other  people  to  do  right.  The  un- 
selfish deed  you  did  last  week  made  the  forces  of 
love  on  the  earth  a  little  stronger,  and  made  it 
easier  for  others  to  be  unselfish.  Rest  assured  that 
no  matter  how  small  our  message,  how  trite  or 
commonplace  it  seems,  the  world  cannot  afford  to 
miss  hearing  it.  The  least  lovely  thing  done  leaves 
a  touch  of  new  beauty  somewhere. 

"  There's  never  a  rose  in  all  the  world 
But  makes  some  green  spray  sweeter ; 

There's  never  a  vv^ind  in  all  the  sky- 
But  makes  some  bird  wing  fleeter  ; 

There's  never  a  star  but  brings  to  heaven 
Some  silver  radiance  tender  ; 

And  never  a  rosy  cloud  but  helps 
To  crown  the  sunset  splendor ; 

No  robin  but  may  thrill  some  heart, 
His  dawn-light  gladness  voicing. 

God  gives  us  all  some  small,  sweet  way 
To  set  the  world  rejoicing." 


DANTE'S  STAIRCASE  FROM  DESPAIR  TO  HOPE.      161 


XIV. 
DANTE'S  STAIRCASE  FROM  DESPAIR  TO  HOPE. 

"He  that  is  holy." — Rev.  iii,  7. 

"  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner." — Luke  xviii,  13. 

"  We  have  redemption  through  his  blood." — Eph.  i,  7. 

I  HAVE  brought  these  three  suggestive  scriptures 
together  that  we  might  study  them  in  connec- 
tion with  a  very  vivid  picture,  which  is  given  in 
Dante's  *'  Purgatory,"  of  the  three  steps  in  a  stair- 
case from  despair  to  hope.  The  great  poet  brings 
his  pilgrim  in  sight  of  the  gate  of  diamond  that 
leads  into  the  place  where  souls  may  be  cleansed 
from  sin  and  fitted  for  Paradise.     To  this  gate, 

"With  frontispiece  of  diamond  and  gold  embellished," 
there  is  a  mysterious  staircase,  the  composition  of 
whose   steps  is   very  minutely  described.      Dante 
says  : 

"  Thither  did  we  approach  ;  and  the  first  stair 
Was  marble  white,  so  polished  and  so  smooth 
I  mirrored  myself  therein  as  I  appear. 
The  second,  tinct  of  deeper  hue  than  pers, 
Was  of  calcined  and  uneven  stone, 
Cracked  all  asunder,  lengthwise  and  across. 
The  third,  that  uppermost  rests  massively, 
Porphyry  seemed  to  me,  as  flaming  red 
As  blood  that  from  a  vein  is  spurting  forth." 

In  the  notes  to  Longfellow's  version,  from  which 
I    make  this   quotation,  we  are  told  that   the   first 


162  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

stair  is  confession  ;  the  second,  contrition  ;  and  the 
third,  penance.  No  doubt  these  notes  are  in  har- 
mony with  medieval  ideas  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
Dr.  Talbot  W.  Chambers  and  other  students  are 
far  more  true  to  the  natural  suggestion  in  these 
lines,  when  they  give  to  them  the  interpretation 
which  I  have  intimated  in  the  three  scriptures 
which  I  have  brought  together. 

First,  is  the  block  of  white  marble  forming  the 
first  step,  polished  with  such  perfection  that,  like  a 
mirror,  it  reflected  fully  the  images  of  those  who  set 
their  feet  upon  it.  Surely  this  must  picture  the 
perfect  holiness  of  the  divine  nature,  in  whose  pure 
heart  when  the  most  self-righteous  man  sees  him- 
self mirrored  he  is  horrified  at  his  own  sins  and  in- 
iquities. It  is  easy  for  a  man  to  compare  himself 
with  other  sinful  people  about  him,  until  he  is  flat- 
tered at  the  idea  that  he  is  equal  to  or  better  than 
the  average  of  his  neighbors ;  but  Avhen  he  brings 
himself  face  to  face  with  Jesus  Christ  and  looks 
into  that  holy  mirror,  showing  what  manhood  ought 
to  be  and  can  be  by  divine  help,  he  is  shocked  to 
see  how  dwarfed  and  marred  he  is.  That  must 
have  been  what  the  psalmist  means  when,  in  the 
ninetieth  psalm  he  says,  **  Thou  hast  set  our  iniqui- 
ties before  thee,  our  secret  sins  in  the  light  of  thy 
countenance." 

How  often  you  hear  it  said  about  a  picture  or 
about  the  complexion  of  a  human  face,  *'  It  will  not 
bear  too  strong  a  light."  How  many  times  in  these 
recent  days  of  investigation  into  the  iniquitous  gov- 
ernment of  our  cities  it  is  said  about  this  or  that 
man  or  transaction,  ''  It  will  not  bear  being  brought 


DANTE'S  STAIRCASE  FROM  DESPAIR  TO  HOPE.     163 

to  the  light."  And  many  a  man  whose  conduct 
has  passed  the  ordinary  scrutiny  of  his  fellows  has, 
when  brought  into  the  clear,  searching  light  of  the 
righteous  demands  of  law,  been  disgraced  and  over- 
thrown. So  the  saintly  Dr.  Edward  Payson  says 
that,  if  we  would  see  our  sins  as  they  really  are,  if 
we  would  see  their  number,  blackness,  and  crimi- 
naHty,  and  the  malignity  and  desert  of  every  sin,  we 
must  see  them  in  the  light  of  God's  purity  and 
righteousness  by  which  our  sins  must  be  judged.  If 
we  would  see  our  sins  in  their  true  colors  we  must 
bring  them  into  the  hallowed  place  and  consider 
how  they  will  appear  when  the  pure  eyes  of  the 
Saviour  looks  on  them. 

Job  experienced  this  and  describes  it  when  he 
says  to  God :  "  I  have  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing 
of  the  ear  :  but  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee.  Where- 
fore I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes." 
It  was  after  Zacchaeus  had  looked  into  the  searching 
eyes  of  Christ  and  into  the  perfect  honesty  of  that 
noble  heart  that  he  became  so  ashamed  of  his  own 
fraud  and,  full  of  repentance,  exclaimed,  "  The  half 
of  my  goods  I  give  to  the  poor ;  and  wherever  I 
have  taken  wrongfully  from  any  man  I  will  make  a 
fourfold  restitution."  Saul  was  proud  and  bigoted 
and  self-righteous  ;  but  when  the  brightness  of  the 
glory  of  Jesus  Christ  shone  around  him  on  his  way 
to  Damascus  he  saw  the  ugliness  of  his  heart,  that 
it  was  full  of  hate  and  anger  and  bigotry,  when 
brought  alongside  of  the  gentle  purity  and  tender- 
ness of  Jesus.  In  the  light  of  that  vision  it  seemed 
to  him  that  he  was  the  greatest  sinner  that  ever 
lived  in  the  world.     And  long  years  afterward,  writ- 


164  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

ing  to  Timothy,  he  says — and  nobody  can  doubt 
that  he  meant  every  word  of  it — *^  This  is  a  faithful 
saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom 
I  am  chief." 

The  trouble  with  a  great  many  people  who  are 
finding  fault  with  the  Scripture  doctrine  so  clearly 
declared  everywhere — that  God  hates  sin  and  must 
and  will  punish  it  wherever  found,  and  that  the  sin- 
ner finally  impenitent  will  bring  everlasting  doom 
upon  his  soul — is  that  they  do  not  recognize  what  a 
horrible  thing  sin  is.  O  my  friends,  do  not  be  de- 
ceived. Do  not  measure  yourselves  by  the  imper- 
fect characters  about  you,  but  measure  by  that  one 
perfect  character  who  has  worn  humanity — the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  I  wish  you  could  stand  at  Dante's 
first  stair  and  see  yourselves  mirrored  as  you  are  ; 
see  every  ambition  and  lust  and  appetite,  and  see 
how  it  links  you  with  all  the  horrid  brood  of  iniquity. 
You  would  be  shocked  and  horrified,  but  it  might 
be  your  salvation.  Some  time  you  will  have  a  look 
like  that.  I  pray  God  it  may  not  be  too  late  for 
you  to  benefit  by  it ! 

At  Grand  Rapids,  recently,  the  cash  till  of  a  cer- 
tain business  firm  was  frequently  tampered  with 
and  money  extracted.  The  cashier  determined  on 
a  novel  thief-catching  experiment.  He  arranged  a 
kodak  upon  a  convenient  shelf  near  the  desk,  and 
also  fixed  a  pan  of  powder  close  by.  A  set  of  elec- 
tric wires  was  arranged  so  that  a  slight  pull  upon 
the  cash  drawer  set  off  the  powder,  and  by  means 
of  the  flash  light  so  obtained  an  instantaneous  pho- 
tograph could   be   taken.     The  trap  was  set  for  a 


DANTE'S  STAIRCASE  FROM  DESPAIR  TO  HOPE.     165 

Saturday  night,  and  it  worked  to  perfection.  When 
the  plate  from  the  kodak  was  developed  it  showed 
a  good  photograph  of  three  boys  in  the  act  of  open- 
ing the  cash  drawer.  The  police  were  called  in,  and 
after  a  search  the  boys  were  arrested.  They  denied 
everything  at  first,  feeling  sure  that  there  was  no 
evidence  against  them  ;  but  when  confronted  with 
the  photograph  they  were  overwhelmed  with  amaze- 
ment, broke  down  completely,  and  confessed  all. 
God  has  so  arranged  everything  in  this  world  that 
it  makes  a  record  ;  and  no  Edison  has  ever  been 
able  to  make  an  instrument  so  perfect  in  its  power 
to  record  sound  or  touch  or  form  or  fact  as  the 
memory  which  you  carry  in  your  own  heart.  And 
you  may  depend  upon  it  that  some  time  you  shall 
have  to  face  this  record,  face  it  in  the  dazzling  light 
of  the  great  white  throne  ;  and  we  shall  have  no 
disposition  to  deny  anything,  for  it  will  be  only 
necessary  to  bring  out  the  records  from  that  won- 
derful picture  gallery  in  our  own  memory.  How 
much  wiser  it  is  to  search  our  own  hearts  now  in 
the  light  of  God's  face,  to  come  now  and  look  into 
this  holy  mirror  when,  instead  of  meaning  our 
doom,  it  may  be  the  first  step  in  the  stairway 
toward  our  salvation.  There  is  nobody  in  this 
world  to  be  so  pitied  as  the  self-righteous  soul  de- 
ceiving his  own  heart.  Lucy  Larcom  sings  the 
scriptural  truth  very  clearly : 

"  Have  pity,  Lord,  upon  the  poor, 

The  poor  who  think  themselves  the  rich, 

Who  only  of  this  world  are  sure 

And  know  not  of  the  treasury  which 

Thy  children  hold,  who  with  thee  stay 

And  share  thy  glory  day  by  day. 


166  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

"  Have  pity,  Lord,  on  hearts  that  he 
Wrapped  in  a  selfish  peace,  asleep  ; 

That  will  not  wake  at  misery's  cry. 
That  can  be  glad  while  others  weep. 

That  shut  thy  holy  light  away 

And  dream  that  their  own  night  is  day. 

"  Have  pity,  Lord,  on  us,  the  blind. 
Who  lead  thy  groping  souls  astray  ; 

On  us,  the  proud,  whose  foolish  minds 
Will  not  believe  in  thee,  the  Way ! 

Pity  us,  humble  us,  till  we. 

As  little  children,  follow  thee  ! 

"  Have  pity,  Lord,  upon  us  all, 

Us  sinners,  judging  others'  sins. 
Scoffing  at  stumblers  while  we  fall. 

O  loving  Lord,  whoever  wins 
A  place  beside  thee  in  thy  heaven 
Must  win  it  as  a  soul  forgiven." 

The  second  step,  which  Dante's  pilgrim  cHmbed 
toward  hope  was  a  dark  stone,  cracked  lengthwise 
and  broken  across  through  its  whole  mass.  What 
a  suggestive  figure  this  with  which  to  compare  a 
broken  heart  and  contrite  spirit  wrung  with  a 
sense  of  sin.  The  poor  publican,  standing  in  the 
temple,  not  daring  so  much  as  to  lift  his  eyes  toward 
heaven,  but  with  sobs  that  shake  his  rugged  frame 
and  tears  that  tell  of  the  deep  agony  of  his  heart, 
crying  out,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,"  is  the 
natural  picture  that  rises  to  our  mind  from  the 
study  of  this  second  step  in  Dante's  stair.  Or  you 
see  poor  Peter,  trying  to  walk  on  the  boisterous 
waves  of  Galilee  to  meet  the  Saviour,  feeling  him- 
self sinking  and  drowning,  and  crying  out  to  the 
Lord,  "  Save  me,  I  perish!  " 


DANTE'S  STAIRCASE  FROM  DESPAIR  TO  HOPE.     167 

When  one  gets  a  clear  view  of  himself  and  sees 
that  he  is  a  poor,  miserable  sinner  his  heart  is 
broken  down  before  God's  great  love  and  mercy  in 
offering  to  save  him,  and  there  is  born  a  real  re- 
pentance, which  not  only  makes  him  loathe  his.  sin 
— for  many  a  man  does  that  and  goes  on  commit- 
ting his  sin  over  and  over — but  makes  him  turn 
away  from  his  sin  and  cry  out  to  the  Lord  for  mercy 
and  salvation.  He  is  like  the  people  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  who,  when  Peter  accused  them  of  being 
a  part  of  the  mob  that  hounded  Jesus  to  his  cruci- 
fixion, saw  their  sin  so  clearly  and  were  so  heart- 
broken over  it  that  they  did  not  think  of  resenting 
his  words,  but  cried  out  in  agony,  "  What  shall  we 
do  to  be  saved  ?  " 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  when  lords  and  knights  were 
at  war  with  each  other,  one  of  them  resolved  to 
avenge  himself  upon  a  neighbor  who  had  offended 
him.  It  happened  that  on  the  very  evening  when 
he  had  made  this  resolution  he  heard  that  his  en- 
emy was  to  pass  near  his  castle,  and  with  only  a  few 
men  with  him.  It  was  a  good  opportunity  to  take 
his  revenge,  and  he  determined  not  to  let  it  pass. 
He  spoke  of  his  plan  in  the  presence  of  his  chaplain, 
who  tried  in  vain  to  persuade  him  to  give  it  up. 
The  good  man  spoke  of  the  sin  he  was  about  to 
commit,  but  his  words  had  no  effect.  At  last  he 
said :  "  My  lord,  since  I  cannot  persuade  you  to 
give  up  this  plan  of  yours,  will  you,  at  least,  con- 
sent to  come  with  me  to  the  chapel,  that  we  may 
pray  together  before  you  go  ? "  The  duke  con- 
sented, and  the  chaplain  and  he  knelt  together  in 
prayer.     Then  the   mercy-loving  Christian  said  to 


168  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

the  revengeful  warrior :  "  Will  you  repeat  after  me, 
sentence  by  sentence,  the  prayer  which  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself  taught  to  his  disciples  ?  "  ''I 
will  do  it,"  replied  the  duke.  The  chaplain  said  a 
sentence,  and  the  duke  repeated  it,  till  he  came  to 
the  petition,  ''  Forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  we  for- 
give them  that  trespass  against  us."  There  the 
duke  was  silent.  ''  My  lord  duke,  you  are  silent," 
said  the  chaplain.  ''  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  con- 
tinue to  repeat  the  words  after  me,  if  you  dare  say 
so  ?  '  Forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive  them 
that  trespass  against  us.'  "  "  I  cannot,"  replied  the 
duke.  "  Well,  God  cannot  forgive  you,  for  he  has 
said  so.  He  himself  has  given  this  prayer.  There- 
fore, you  must  either  give  up  your  revenge  or  give 
up  saying  this  prayer ;  for  to  ask  God  to  pardon 
you  as  you  pardon  others  is  to  ask  him  to  take 
vengeance  on  you  for  all  your  sins.  Go  now,  my 
lord,  and  meet  your  victim.  God  will  meet  you  at 
the  great  day  of  judgment."  The  iron  will  of  the 
duke  was  broken.  "  No,"  said  he  ;  ''I  Vv^ill  finish 
my  prayer.  My  God,  my  Father,  pardon  me  ;  for- 
give me  as  I  forgive  him  who  has  offended  me." 
''Amen  !  "  said  the  chaplain.  ''Amen  !  "  repeated 
the  duke,  who  had  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  un- 
derstood the  true  meaning  of  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

I  pray  God,  if  you  are  a  sinner  against  him  to- 
night, that  you  may  not  only  see  the  fact  in  the 
mirror  of  his  pure  heart  and  righteous  word,  but 
that  your  heart  may  be  broken  down  in  the  pres- 
ence of  your  sin,  and  that  thus  you  may  climb  the 
second  step  toward  salvation. 

The  third  step,  upon  which  stood  both  feet  of  the 


DANTE'S  STAIRCASE  FROM  DESPAIR  TO  HOPE.     169 

angel  who  guarded  the  entrance,  was  a  sohd  block 
of  porphyry,  red  as  the  blood  that  spurts  forth  from 
the  smitten  vein.  Surely  we  can  see  nothing  else 
in  this  but  the  blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  shed 
as  an  atonement  for  us.  This  vein  of  crimson  blood 
of  sacrifice  runs  through  the  whole  Bible  every- 
where, and  Jesus  came  as  the  Lamb  of  God  to  take 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.  "  We  have  redemption 
through  his  blood." 

Some  people  claim  that  their  aesthetic  natures  re- 
coil from  the  idea  of  this  giving  of  the  blood  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  for  us.  They  say  it  makes  them  think 
about  the  shambles  and  horrifies  them.  Strange 
that  it  never  horrifies  them  anywhere  else.  Every- 
thing that  is  most  heroic,  that  is  noblest  and  most 
splendid,  in  human  life  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
it.  The  most  aesthetic  of  these  kid-gloved  theologi- 
ans never  thinks  of  the  shambles  when  he  recalls 
the  fact  that  the  mother  gives  of  her  own  blood  and 
perils  her  own  life  to  bring  her  child  into  the  world. 
It  does  not  occur  to  him,  perhaps,  to  think  of  the 
shambles  when  some  fireman  in  the  lurid  glare  of 
the  midnight  flames,  finding  the  ladder  too  short  to 
reach  the  window  above  him  where  human  beings 
are  about  to  perish,  clings  with  his  feet  to  the  top 
rung  of  the  ladder,  presses  his  bleeding  fingers  into 
some  crevice  of  the  wall  over  his  head,  and  makes 
of  his  own  broad  shoulders  a  human  bridge  by 
which  the  perishing  may  climb  to  life  and  safety. 
It  is  only  when  the  great  heart  of  God,  longing  for 
his  children  lost  in  sin,  crying  out  after  them,  gives 
his  Son  to  suffer  and  die  for  the  lost,  to  be  born 
under  the  law  that  he  might  ransom  those  that  were 


170  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

under  the  law,  and  to  shed  his  blood  as  a  sacrifice 
for  perishing  sinners — it  is  only  then  that  such  a 
man  thinks  of  the  shambles. 

This  wonderful,  precious  doctrine  of  the  atone- 
ment through  Jesus  Christ  is  in  harmony  with  all 
that  we  know  of  the  character  of  God,  is  in  har- 
mony with  his  universe,  in  harmony  with  all  that  is 
best  and  truest  in  human  nature.  It  is  the  Strong 
baring  his  shoulders  to  carry  the  burdens  of  the 
weak  ;  it  is  the  Highest  stooping  to  save  the  low- 
est ;  it  is  the  Best  coming  to  ransom  the  bad.  O, 
this  is  a  conception  of  a  God  about  Avhose  neck  I 
can  throw  my  arms,  and  upon  whose  bosom  I  can 
pillow  my  head  !  On  this  blood-red  stone  I  can 
plant  my  feet  and  know  that  this  is  "  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life." 

Not  in  our  goodness,  but  in  his  goodness,  is  our 
hope.  A  minister  of  the  Gospel  was  once  asked  to 
visit  a  poor  dying  woman.  The  messenger,  being 
ignorant,  could  give  no  account  of  her  state,  except 
that  she  was  a  very  good  woman  and  very  happy, 
and  was  now  at  the  end  of  a  well-spent  life  and, 
therefore,  sure  of  going  to  heaven.  The  minister 
went,  saw  she  was  very  ill,  and  after  a  few  kindly 
inquiries  about  her  bodily  condition,  said,  ''  Well,  I 
understand  you  are  in  a  very  peaceful  state  of  mind, 
depending  upon  a  well-spent  life."  The  dying 
woman  looked  hard  at  him  and  said,  "  Yes,  I  am 
in  the  enjoyment  of  peace,  and  that  from  a  well- 
spent  Hfe,  but  it  is  the  well-spent  life  of  Jesus — not 
my  doings,  but  his;  not  my  merits,  but  his  blood." 

I  offer  you  that  atonement  as  your  only  sure 
foundation  of  hope.     You    may  be   saved,  not  be- 


DANTE'S  STAIRCASE  FROM  DESPAIR  TO  HOPE.      171 

cause  of  any  good  thing  that  you  have  clone,  but 
because  Jesus  has  died  to  redeem  you.  If  you  will 
accept  his  atonement  by  repentance  and  faith  you 
may  have  salvation.  "  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse 
us  from  ail  unrighteousness."  And  if  you  will,  as 
you  realize  your  sin,  but  place  your  feet  on  this 
stair  of  flaming  red  porphyry,  crimsoned  by  the 
blood  of  the  Saviour,  the  doorway  of  hope  shall  be 
wide  open  to  you,  and  it  shall  lead,  not  as  Dante 
dreamed,  into  a  long  state  of  painful  discipline,  but 
into  love  and  joy  and  peace  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Remember  that  it  is  not  enough  to  know  you  are 
a  sinner ;  it  is  not  enough  to  confess  it,  to  be  sorry 
for  it,  and  to  have  many  longing  wishes  and  desires 
for  a  pure  life.  Neither  can  any  ceremony  or  ob- 
servance or  sacrament  by  any  means  save  you.  You 
must  really  climb  the  stairway  to  hope.  You  must 
repent  of  your  sins,  and  accept  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  your  atonement  for  sins,  and  rest  your 
weary  heart  upon  him  as  your  Saviour.  That  you 
may  do  here  and  now.  In  your  heart  of  hearts  you 
may  accept  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  your  atone- 
ment, as  your  Redeemer.  There  may  be  many 
other  things  you  will  have  to  do,  confessions  you 
will  need  to  make,  restitution,  it  may  be,  where 
you  have  wronged  others;  but  if  you  will  right 
here  and  now  repent  of  your  sin  and  turn  away 
from  it  and  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  your  Saviour  God 
will  trust  you,  he  will  take  you  at  your  word,  he 
will  pardon  your  sins,  and  will  give  you  the  witness 
of  the  Spirit  in  your  heart  that  you  are  a  child  of 
God. 


172  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


XV. 

THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

' '  Fear  not :  for  they  that  be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with 
them.  And  EUsha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I  pray  thee,  open  his  eyes, 
that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man  ;  and 
he  saw  :  and,  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire 
round  about  EHsha."— 2  Kings  vi,  16,  17. 

THE  King  of  Syria  was  at  war  with  Israel,  but 
the  King  of  Israel  had  a  tremendous  rein- 
forcement in  the  person  of  Elisha,  the  man  of  God. 
God  revealed  to  Elisha  the  purposes  of  the  King 
of  Syria,  and  he  was  thus  able  again  and  again  to 
save  the  army  of  Israel  from  destruction.  After 
this  had  happened  a  good  many  times  and  the  King 
of  Syria,  who  prided  himself  on  his  military  fore- 
sight, had  been  thwarted  frequently,  he  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  some  of  his  officers  must  be 
traitors  ;  and  so  he  caUed  a  council  of  war  and  said 
to  them,  '*  Will  ye  not  show  me  which  of  us  is  for 
the  King  of  Israel  ?  "  But  one  of  his  staff  officers 
had  found  out  what  was  the  matter,  and  said, 
"  There  are  none  of  us  traitors,  your  majesty  ;  but 
the  fact  is  that  Elisha,  the  prophet  that  is  in  Israel, 
has  a  habit  of  telling  the  King  of  Israel  the  plans 
which  you  discuss  with  us  in  your*  bedchamber." 
As  soon  as  the  king  heard  this  he  was  determined 
to  capture  Elisha.  His  action  in  this  matter  is  a 
signal  illustration  of  the  ordinary  blindness  and  ig- 
norance of  worldly  men  concerning  spiritual  things. 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE.       173 

But  he  began  immediately  to  lay  his  plans,  and 
sent  out  his  spies  to  find  Elisha,  that  he  might  send 
and  take  him.  Finally  they  brought  word  to  him 
that  the  prophet  was  in  Dothan.  As  soon  as  this 
news  came  he  marshaled  a  great  army,  with  horses 
and  chariots  and  a  great  host  of  infantry,  and  sent 
them  forth  in  the  night  to  surround  the  little  town 
of  Dothan  and  make  sure  of  the  capture  of  this 
troublesome  prophet. 

And  it  came  to  pass  the  next  morning,  when  Eli- 
sha's  private  secretary  went  out  to  take  his  morning 
walk  and  look  about,  he  beheld  to  his  astonishment 
and  fear  the  town  surrounded  on  every  side  by  a 
great  army,  accompanied  with  horses  and  chariots 
of  war  ;  and  he  came  back  to  Elisha  in  despair, 
crying,  "  Alas,  my  master  !  how  shall  we  do  ?  "  And 
Elisha's  answer  was  the  remarkable  statement  of 
the  text,  ''  Fear  not  :  for  they  that  be  with  us  are 
more  than  they  that  be  with  them.  And  Elisha 
prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I  pray  thee,  open  his  eyes, 
that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes 
of  the  young  man  ;  and  he  saw  :  and,  behold,  the 
mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire 
round  about  Elisha." 

The  first  great  truth  suggested  to  my  mind  by 
this  graphic  picture  is  this,  that  spiritual  perception 
depends  on  harmonious  relations  to  spiritual  things. 
All  perception  is  obedient  to  this  law.  The  char- 
acter of  the  mind  and  heart  dictate  what  we  see  in 
nature.  The  same  picture  of  forest,  mountain,  or 
sea  does  not  always  have  the  same  revelation  to 
every  observer,  by  any  means.  Some  one  has  writ- 
ten with  keen  intellectual  insight, 
12 


174  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

"  The  poem  hangs  on  the  berry  bush, 

When  comes  the  poet's  eye  ; 
The  street  is  one  long  masquerade, 

When  Shakespeare  passes  by." 

But  it  takes  the  poetic  eye  and  the  dramatic  mind 
to  see  these  things.  What  we  see  and  observe  will 
always  have  very  close  relations,  in  quality  and 
quantity,  to  the  measure  of  perceptive  capacity  we 
carry  with  us.  I  have  been  reading  recently,  with  a 
great  deal  of  interest,  something  of  Humboldt's 
travels  in  America.  He  came  over  to  this  country 
and  spent  only  five  years  on  the  American  conti- 
nent, before  there  were  any  railroads  or  any  rapid 
methods  of  transportation  ;  and  yet  when  he  went 
back  it  took  twenty-eight  immense  volumes  and  a 
half  dozen  of  the  best  literary  men  in  Europe  many 
years  to  put  on  record  what  he  saw  over  here  in 
five  years.  Yet  you  and  I  know  plenty  of  men  who 
have  been  here  fifty  years  and  could  tell  a  stenog- 
rapher in  half  a  day  all  they  have  ever  seen,  though 
they  may  have  traveled  from  ocean  to  ocean  in  a 
palace  car.  Thousands  of  men  have  gone  up  Vesu- 
vius and  back,  and  neither  they  nor  the  world  are 
any  wiser  for  it.  But  Humboldt  and  two  of  his 
friends  walked  up  Vesuvius  one  day,  and  the  world 
has  been  richer  in  knowledge  ever  since  for  that  one 
little  excursion. 

A  scratch  on  a  rock  in  a  blueberry  patch  up  in 
Maine  or  New  Hampshire  does  not  mean  anything 
to  the  average  farmer  who  wishes  the  rock  would 
suddenly  decay  into  some  kind  of  fertilizer  to  make 
his  soil  richer ;  but  Louis  Agassiz  would  come  by 
and  see  the  scratch  on  the  rock,  and  tell  you  approx- 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE.       175 

imately  the  date  when  an  iceberg  passed  that  way 
ages  ago  or  when  glaciers  once  lay  there  and  ground 
their  course  southward.  So  in  observations  of  our 
fellow-men.  We  see  in  men  and  women  about  us 
only  those  things  which  we  can  understand  from 
something  that  is  in  us.  The  nobler  we  are  the 
clearer  we  see  the  germs  of  nobility  and  possibility 
for  good  in  every  other  human  life.     Emerson  sang 

•'  Let  me  go  where'er  I  will, 
I  hear  a  sky-born  music  still. 
'Tis  not  in  the  high  stars  alone, 

Nor  in  the  cups  of  budding  flowers, 
Nor  ill  the  redbreast's  mellow  tone, 

Nor  in  the  bow  that  smiles  in  showers, 
But  in  the  mud  and  scum  of  things  ; 
There  alway  something  sings." 

But  we  cannot  hear  sky-born  music  unless  there  be 
something  in  us  in  harmony  with  it.  The  keener 
our  ov/n  sense  the  more  we  appreciate  others.  See 
Dr.  Howe  feeling  his  way  to  Laura  Bridgman's 
imprisoned  soul,  and  finding  that  soul  and  bringing 
it  forth  to  the  w^orld  along  the  pathway  of  a  single 
sense — the  sense  of  touch — left  in  the  palm  of  Lau- 
ra's hand.  That  mighty  tunnel,  twelve  miles  long, 
under  the  St.  Gothard  Alps  was  a  small  achieve- 
ment compared  to  the  self-denying  labor  of  tunnel- 
ing back  into  the  darkness  along  that  one  blind 
nerve  to  find  a  human  soul. 

Yet  in  a  moral  way,  or  rather  in  a  spiritual  way, 
that  modern  miracle  of  self-denying  perseverance 
needs  to  be  wrought  over  and  over  again  on  all  our 
streets.  What  Dr.  Howe  was  to  Laura  Bridgman 
God  desires  us   to  be  to  spiritually  paralyzed  and 


176  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

blinded  souls  everywhere.  Did  you  ever  pause  to 
meditate  on  the  vast  stretch  of  possibiHty  com- 
passed in  that  declaration  of  John,  v^here  he  says 
that  there  is  given  unto  us  ^'  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God  ?  "  I  wish  you  would  put  the  question 
very  solemnly  to  your  own  heart  while  I  look  you 
in  the  face,  What  is  your  estimate  of  humanity  ? 
Do  the  men  and  women  whom  you  meet  in  your 
daily  life  appeal  to  you  in  this  way,  as  beings  with 
power  in  them  to  become  the  sons  of  God  ?  Are 
the  streets  full  of  souls  to  you,  or  are  they  only 
full  of  bodies,  more  or  less  clean,  more  or  less  satis- 
factory to  your  taste,  more  or  less  fashionably 
clothed  ?  O,  my  brother,  do  you  know  there  is  no 
such  severe  judgment  seat  as  a  question  like  that 
put  to  your  own  heart  ?  If,  when  you  walk  in  and 
out  among  men  in  the  street  or  the  car  or  the  store 
or  the  church,  there  is  a  look  of  scorn  in  your  eyes, 
a  feeling  of  indifference  or  contempt  in  your  heart, 
at  the  ignorance  or  shame  or  sin  of  the  people 
whom  you  meet,  then  you  may  be  sure  that,  morti- 
fying as  it  is  to  confess  it,  there  is  something  akin 
to  that  which  you  see  in  them  in  your  own  heart. 

When  we  ourselves  are  the  true  sons  of  God  we 
will  see  the  possibility  of  divine  sonship  in  all  oth- 
ers, and  long  to  fly  to  the  rescue  and  bring  it  forth 
from  whatever  is  hiding  or  crushing  it.  Let  this 
proverb  ring  in  your  ears,  '*  The  best  man  thinks 
the  best  of  others."  And,  when  you  think  of  that, 
do  you  not  think  of  Jesus's  power  over  the  great 
universal  human  heart  wherever  he  is  proclaimed  ? 
He  sees  more  in  poor,  lost,  sinful  men  than  less 
pure  eyes  could  see.     God  loves  us  more  than  any- 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE.       177 

one  else,  loves  us  even  when  we  are  unlovable  to 
unclarified  human  eyes,  because  he  sees  in  ''  the 
mud  and  scum  of  things  "  the  underlying  vein  of 
gold  beneath. 

So  spiritual  forces  are  perceived  by  spiritual 
people.  Many  things  are  spiritually  discerned. 
Jesus  declares  that  all  anxiety  and  worry  about 
doctrines  shall  give  way  before  an  obedient  soul. 
As  nature  yields  her  secrets  only  to  the  humble 
student  who  seeks  to  be  obedient  to  her  laws,  so 
only  they  who  in  humility  seek  to  keep  the  com- 
mandments of  God  come  into  relations  where 
God  can  pour  on  them  the  splendor  of  spiritual 
illumination. 

This  further  thought  is  suggested  to  me  by  the 
scripture  we  are  studying — the  one  impregnable 
fortress  in  this  world  is  a  perfectly  sincere  and  hon- 
est soul  whose  reliance  is  in  God.  Earth  has  no 
impregnable  fortress.  The  military  world  used  to 
think  that  some  of  the  fortresses  were  impregnable 
to  attack,  but  such  faith  has  received  a  great  shock 
in  recent  centuries.  When  I  was  up  along  the 
northern  boundary  of  our  country  during  vacation 
time  I  was  reminded  of  my  schoolboy  interest  in 
the  old  French  city  of  Quebec.  For  many  years  it 
was  believed  to  be  an  impregnable  fortress ;  but  the 
intrepid  Wolfe,  nursing  the  last  spark  of  life  in  his 
enfeebled  body,  led  his  little  army  up  the  rugged 
walls  of  granite  to  the  Heights  of  Abraham  and  ac- 
complished its  overthrow.  But  there  is  one  for- 
tress the  walls  of  which  no  assaulting  column  can 
scale,  and  whose  garrison  cannot  be  starved  out  by 
any  siege — a  frank,  sincere  soul  whose  trust  is  in  God. 


178  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

The  King  of  Syria,  proud  of  his  mihtary  skill  and 
strategy  and  superior  army,  had  no  doubt  that  this 
plain,  simple-minded  prophet  would  fall  an  easy 
prey  into  his  hands.  He  knew  nothing  about  the 
armies  of  heaven  encamped  about  the  children  of 
God.  The  lesson  I  wish  to  impress  on  all  our 
hearts  is  that  we  are  to  expect  to  be  triumphant  in 
this  world  and  in  the  world  to  come,  not  through 
any  finesse  or  worldly  strategy,  but  by  frank,  open- 
hearted  trust  in  our  heavenly  Father.  The  plans 
and  policy  of  the  world  are  often  only  treacherous 
quicksands  to  unwary  souls. 

When  the  Kansas  Pacific  and  the  Atchison,  To- 
peka,  and  Santa  Fe  Railroads  were  being  constructed 
one  difficulty  of  frequent  occurrence  was  met  which 
was  unique  in  railroad  history.  This  was  the  trouble 
arising  from  quicksands.  From  western  Kansas  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains  quicksands  are  to  be  found  in 
nearly  every  stream,  no  matter  how  small ;  and  to 
bridge  them  successfully  requires  an  expenditure 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  stream  to  be 
crossed.  Pile  driving  was  tried,  but  the  longest 
piles  disappeared  without  touching  bottom.  Then 
filling  with  earth  and  stone  was  attempted  and  met 
with  equally  poor  success,  as  the  quicksand  was  ap- 
parently capable  of  swallowing  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. The  only  practical  means  of  crossing  the 
quicksands  was  to  build  truss  bridges  across  them. 

During  the  construction  of  the  Kansas  Pacific 
across  Colorado,  an  engine  ran  off  the  track  at 
River  Bend,  about  ninety  miles  from  Denver.  This 
engine,  a  large  freight,  fell  into  a  quicksand  and  in 
twenty  minutes  had  entirely  disappeared.       Within 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE.       179 

two  days  the  company  sent  out  a  gang  of  men  and 
a  wrecking  train  to  raise  the  engine.  To  their  sur- 
prise they  could  not  find  a  trace  of  it.  They  sunk 
magnetized  rods  to  the  depth  of  sixty-five  feet,  but 
no  engine  could  be  found.  It  had  sunk  forever  be- 
yond human  ken,  and  from  that  day  to  this  has  not 
been  discovered.  How  often  do  we  see  that  inci- 
dent paralleled  in  the  social  and  moral  life  of  our 
time — strong,  successful  men,  seemingly  capable  of 
carrying  everything  before  them,  suddenly  engulfed 
forever  in  the  treacherous  quicksands  of  the  world, 
the  sad  victims  of  policies  that  proved  to  be  only  a 
refuge  of  lies  !  But  a  sincere  and  frank  soul  rests  on 
the  Rock  of  Ages. 

The  etymologists  tell  us  a  very  interesting  story 
of  the  history  of  that  word  ''  sincerity."  It  comes 
from  two  Latin  words,  sine  and  cera — "without 
cement."  And  we  are  assured  that  Its  origin  was  in 
this  wise:  In  the  golden  days  of  Roman  prosperity, 
when  her  merchants  were  the  richest  in  the  world 
and  lived  in  marble  palaces  on  the  banks  of  the 
yellow  Tiber,  there  was  great  competition  in  the 
grandeur  and  artistic  adornment  of  their  dwellings. 
During  their  successful  wars  against  Greece  there 
had  been  carried  back  to  Rome  as  spoils  many  of 
the  most  precious  gems  of  Grecian  art.  In  this  way 
a  taste  for  sculpture  had  been  awakened,  and  many 
young  Romans  of  artistic  temperament  set  them- 
selves to  work  in  the  school  of  design.  Good  sculp- 
tors were  quickly  developed.  But  fraud  and  hum- 
bug were  as  common  then  as  now ;  and  so  it  came 
to  be  quite  a  common  thing  for  the  sculptor,  when 
he  came  to  a  flaw  in  the  marble  or  when  his  chisel 


180  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

missed  its  aim,  to  take  a  carefully  constructed 
cement,  with  which  he  filled  in  the  chink  and  so 
cleverly  fixed  it  as  to  be  imperceptible.  This  fraud, 
however,  would  not  stand  the  test  of  time,  and 
after  a  few  years  heat  or  damp  or  accident  would 
affect  the  cement  and  it  would  reveal  its  presence. 
This  became  so  common  that  when  new  contracts 
came  to  be  signed  for  works  of  art  there  was  always 
a  clause  put  in  that  they  were  to  be  sine  cera,  or 
''without  cement."  What  a  picture  story  we  have 
here  in  a  single  word,  and  how  infinitely  more  im- 
portant in  building  an  immortal  character  than  in 
the  chiseling  of  lifeless  marble  ! 

To  be  real  ought  to  be  our  deepest  prayer.  How 
often  souls  are  led  away  in  folly  from  a  mania  for  a 
conspicuous  position,  without  seeking  the  reality 
for  which  the  position  stands.  There  is  an  old  fable 
about  a  silly  piece  of  charcoal  that  aspired  to  a 
place  beside  its  crystallized  and  brilliant  brother, 
the  diamond.  A  good  fairy  came  along  and,  pity- 
ing the  ambitious  bit  of  carbon,  said,  "  I  will  grant 
you  one  wish,  but  remember,  only  one."  The  silly 
thing,  instead  of  wishing  to  be  changed  to  a  dia- 
mond, asked  at  once  for  a  place  among  the  diamonds 
that  adorned  the  crown  of  the  king.  The  request 
was  granted.  The  piece  of  charcoal  was  set  for  one 
proud  moment  among  the  brilliants.  But  as  soon 
as  the  king's  attendants  saw  it  they  brushed  it  away. 
If  it  had  only  asked  to  be  changed  into  a  real  diamond 
somebody  would  have  seen  it  shining  under  foot 
and  picked  it  up  and  placed  it  in  the  crown  ;  but, 
aspiring  to  a  position  which  it  could  not  adorn,  it 
was  rejected  with  contempt   and    trampled    under 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE.       181 

foot.  Let  us  first  of  all  try  to  be  wise  and  good 
and  useful.  Then  in  due  time  the  world  will  be 
likely  to  honor  us  ;  but,  even  if  it  never  should,  the 
Lord  will  say,  '*  They  shall  shine  in  the  day  when  I 
make  up  my  jewels." 

Anschar,  the  faithful  and  fearless  monk  who  intro- 
duced Christianity  into  Sweden,  was  in  many  re- 
spects one  of  the  most  lovely  and  noble  characters 
in  the  mediaeval  period.  In  his  rapturous  aspiration 
after  personal  holiness  according  to  the  Christ  pat- 
tern, he  once  said :  ''  One  miracle  I  would,  if 
worthy,  ask  the  Lord  to  grant  me ;  and  that  is, 
that  by  his  grace  he  would  make  me  a  good  man." 
Indeed,  that  is  the  greatest  miracle — to  be  a  good 
man.  It  is  the  blessed  privilege  of  such  souls  to 
live  in  a  rare  spiritual  atmosphere,  to  come  into 
precious  communion  with  the  invisible  and  eternal. 
There  are  high  table-lands  in  some  parts  of  the 
earth,  where  the  dwellers  live  in  an  atmosphere  so 
clear  and  pure  that  they  are  always  in  sight  of 
great  white  mountains  whose  summits  pierce  the 
clouds  hundreds  of  miles  away.  So  there  are 
spiritual  table-lands  up  to  which  God  leads  those 
who  love  him  with  sincere  and  trusting  hearts. 

The  Saviour  was  always  trying  to  impress  the 
disciples  with  the  superior  worth  and  importance  of 
the  spiritual  world.  "  Fear  not  them,"  he  said, 
''  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul :  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy 
both  soul  and  body  in  hell."  There  is  a  certain 
comparative  sense  in  which  this  earthly  life  is  of 
small  importance  ;  but  the  future  is  of  measureless 
interest,  and  it  stretches  a  hand  back  to  write  in 


182  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

large  characters  everything  which  has  any  bearing 
on  the  soul's  final  condition.  Brothers  and  sisters, 
we  ought  to  meditate  more  on  these  spiritual 
things.  A  good  man  recently  wrote  :  "  The  pre- 
vailing type  of  piety  needs  the  infusion  of  somewhat 
more  of  the  temper  of  heavenly-mindedness  into  it. 
There  is  too  much  of  the  clatter  of  the  world  in  the 
religious  activity  of  the  period,  and  not  enough  of 
the  sweet  music  which  is  wafted  into  the  sacred 
spheres  Vv'here  saints  and  angels  strike  their  harps  in 
the  open  presence  of  the  Son  of  God." 

It  requires  this  sublime  background  of  the  im- 
mortal life  to  give  strength  and  breadth  and  fullness 
to  human  character.  This  world  is  too  brief  and 
unsatisfactory  to  make  any  strong  appeal  to  a 
man's  deeper  and  holier  self.  It  can  wake  the  pas- 
sions and  ambitions,  but  it  can  never  make  man  rise 
to  lofty  aspirations  and  self-denying  deeds.  If  I  am 
only  here  for  a  little  while  and  am  to  have  no  life 
beyond,  what  do  I  care?  What  matters  it 
whether  men  think  well  of  me  or  not,  if  to-morrow 
or  the  day  after  I  am  to  fall  out  of  memory  and 
out  of  consciousness  ?  If  all  that  I  acquire  and  all 
that  I  achieve  through  my  ceaseless  toil  and 
struggle  is  to  be  but  like  the  down  of  the  thistle 
which  the  wind  drives  before  it,  there  is  no  suffi- 
cient motive  to  develop  the  highest  possibilities  of 
my  nature.  But  if  it  be  true  that  there  is  a  shore  to 
which  we  are  sailing,  if  all  the  mighty  currents  of 
the  universe  are  swinging  us  In  that  direction  and 
the  winds  blow  without  ceasing  thitherward,  there 
is  aroused  within  me  an  irresistible  impulse  to  be 
ready  to  land  and  enter  on  the  new  life  which  Is  be- 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE.       183 

fore  me.  I  am  aroused  to  make  preparation  and 
to  develop  to  the  last  possibility  the  powers 
which  God  has  given  me ;  and  I  can  put  up  with 
many  hardships  on  the  voyage,  for  all  these  are,  as 
Paul  says,  but  light  afflictions  compared  with  the 
heavenly  land  and  immortal  life  to  which  they  are 
carrying  me.  It  is  impossible  that  I  should  be  as 
unconcerned  and  indifferent  as  though  I  were  to  be 
drowned  in  the  port  when  I  reach  it. 

O  brothers  and  sisters,  it  may  be  that  some  of  us 
here  can  already  see  the  lights  gleaming  on  the  pier 
for  the  landing.  And  in  our  best  hours,  hours  of 
meditation  and  communion  with  the  highest,  there 
gather  about  that  landing  place  a  throng  of  blessed 
faces  that  once  were  comrades  with  us  here,  but 
whose  sails  the  heavenly  trade  winds  have  wafted 
more  rapidly  than  ours.  Some  of  these  days  our 
ships  shall  strike  the  rapid  current,  and,  standing  on 
deck,  we  shall  near  the  landing  place  where  they 
wait.  How  our  hearts  will  throb  with  glorious 
emotions  as  they  press  to  the  ship's  side  to  greet 
us  and  welcome  us  to  their  holy  embrace  forever ! 


184  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


XVI. 

THE  DARKNESS  BEHIND  THE  STARS. 

"  Then  said  the  king  to  the  servants,  Bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and 
take  him  away,  and  cast  him  into  outer  darkness." — Matt,  xxii,  13. 

A  MODERN  novelist  has  aroused  a  good  deal  of 
scientific  discussion  by  a  paragraph  in  one  of 
his  books,  in  which  he  indicates  that  the  stars  of 
the  universe  are  set  in  a  dark  background  of  what 
we  may  conceive  as  infinite,  starless  space,  into 
which  no  light  penetrates  from  the  stars  of  this  or 
any  other  universe.  The  trend  of  scientific  discus- 
sion seems  to  be  that  the  novelist  is  probably  cor- 
rect. The  great  telescopes  which  have  recently  been 
mounted  in  different  parts  of  the  world  have  not 
only  increased  the  number  of  stars  known  to  exist, 
but  have  also  convinced  the  astronomers  that  they 
are  rapidly  approaching  the  limit  of  telescopic  vi- 
sion, for  the  same  reason  that  Alexander  wept — be- 
cause there  are  no  more  worlds  to  conquer.  They 
declare  that  the  most  probable  hypothesis  is  that 
all  the  stars,  clusters,  and  nebulae  visible  by  aid  of 
the  largest  telescopes  form  together  one  vast  sys- 
tem, which  constitutes  our  visible  universe,  and 
that  this  system  is  surrounded  by  a  starless  void, 
though  beyond  that  there  may  be  other  systems. 
There  is  still  another  hypothesis  among  the  scien- 
tists, which  means,  however,  practically  the  same 
thing  so  far  as  it  illustrates  the  thought  we  have  in 


THE  DARKNESS  BEHIND  THE  STARS.  185 

hand  ;  it  is  that  the  luminiferous  ether  which  ex- 
tends throughout  the  visible  universe  may  be  con- 
fined to  this  universe,  and  that  beyond  these 
confines  the  ether  may  thin  out,  as  the  earth's 
atmosphere  does  at  a  certain  distance  from  the 
earth's  surface,  finally  ceasing  to  exist  altogether 
and  ending  in  an  absolute  vacuum,  which  would,  of 
course,  arrest  the  passage  of  light  from  all  outer 
space  and  thus  produce  the  black  background  of 
the  heavens,  or  '^  The  Darkness  Behind  the  Stars." 
Whether  the  astronomers  are  correct  or  not  in 
their  hypothesis,  we  are  assured  that  there  is  an 
outer  darkness  into  which  the  immortal  soul  of  man 
may  be  driven,  as  the  result  of  his  own  willful  sin 
and  disobedience  against  the  laws  of  the  higher  and 
nobler  realm  of  the  spirit.  As  the  traveler  who 
should  turn  his  back  upon  the  sun  and  travel  on 
and  on,  resisting  all  the  attractions  that  lay  hold 
upon  him  from  that  great  magnetic  center,  and  per- 
severe in  his  course  would,  after  a  while,  be  beyond 
the  reach  of  its  light  and  finally  beyond  the  glimmer 
of  the  last  flickering  star  and  be  lost  in  the  outer 
darkness  where  no  solar  illumination  should  light 
his  path,  so  the  text  we  are  studying,  in  harmony 
with  the  universal  teaching  of  God's  word,  as  well 
as  the  common  observation  of  humanity,  teaches  us 
that  it  is  possible  for  a  human  soul  to  turn  its  face 
away  from  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  to  go  out  from 
his  glorious  presence,  to  set  its  will  to  resist  the  di- 
vine magnetism  that  appeals  to  every  human  heart, 
and  go  on  and  on  in  a  course  of  sin  and  disobe- 
dience against  God,  until,  one  by  one,  the  lights  that 
illuminate  our  human  pathway  are  left  behind,  and 


186  THE  CHRIST  DREAM, 

the  poor  lost  soul  finds  itself  in  the  outer  darkness 
where  there  is  "  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth  " — 
strong  and  graphic  expression  of  that  unavailing 
sorrow  and  bitter  anger  which  sin  causes  to  be  the 
prevailing  atmosphere  of  the  soul  which  it  has  mas- 
tered. 

Our  text  is  a  sad  incident  of  a  feast — a  feast 
made  by  a  king,  where  all  the  guests  are  supposed 
to  be  joyous  and  happy.  It  is  a  wedding  feast  also. 
What  a  tragic  background  it  makes  of  the  joyous 
appointments  of  the  feast.  One  cannot  meditate 
upon  it  just  at  this  time  without  thinkingof  that  wed- 
ding feast  of  the  young  czar  which  has  just  been  go- 
ing on  in  Russia,  where  crowned  heads  and  princes 
and  embassadors  from  every  land  under  heaven 
have  been  gathered  to  do  honor  to  Nicholas  II  and 
felicitate  him  on  his  marriage  and  on  the  beginning 
of  his  reign.  We  are  told  that  the  eyes  of  men 
have  seldom  looked  upon  a  more  gorgeous  pageant 
than  that  of  the  imperial  wedding ;  that  the  most 
brilliant  imagination  could  not  conceive  of  the 
splendor  of  attire  and  dazzling  beauty  of  the  jewels 
and  decorations  which  the  newspaper  correspond- 
ents declared  their  inability  to  describe.  Yet  to  all 
the  glory  of  the  wedding,  with  its  pomp,  its  cere- 
mony, its  brilliant  display  of  wealth  and  power, 
there  is  the  dark  background  of  the  outer  darkness  of 
farthest  Siberia,  with  its  prison  camps,  its  exiled 
Jews,  and  its  banished  reformers  who  sought  for 
freedom  of  speech  and  press. 

But,  whatever  of  justice  or  Injustice  may  cause 
exile  into  the  outer  darkness  of  Russia,  nothing  but 
one's  own  sin  can  thus  exile  him  from  the  presence 


THE  DARKNESS  BEHIND  THE  STARS.  187 

of  the  King  of  the  universe  in  the  spiritual  reahn. 
The  king  ordered  the  man  sent  out  into  the  outer 
darkness  because  he  was  out  of  all  harmony  with 
the  circumstances  of  the  feast.  He  came  not  hav- 
ing on  the  wedding  garment.  He  might  have  had 
it,  but  through  some  spirit  of  defiance  or  indiffer- 
ence he  refused  to  make  preparation,  so  that  at 
last,  when  lights  flashed  from  the  decorated  walls 
and  reflected  from  richly  clothed  and  jeweled 
guests,  there  he  sat,  the  one  black,  uncomfortable 
spot  on  the  wedding  feast.  He  was  cast  out  be- 
cause of  what  he  was.  It  was  personal  to  himself. 
He  had  been  invited,  but  he  had  refused  to  make 
the  preparation  demanded  by  the  invitation. 

Dear  friends,  let  us  make  a  very  earnest  and  seri- 
ous study  of  this  for  a  moment.  You  are  living  in 
days  of  invitations.  On  every  hand  they  are  fall- 
ing upon  you  from  heaven,  softly  and  generously, 
as  the  snowflakes  fall  out  of  the  clouds — invitations 
to  a  feast  with  God,  to  a  great  wedding  feast  be- 
tween Christ  and  his  church.  It  is  a  personal  mat- 
ter. The  invitations  are  to  you.  What  response  are 
you  making?  Are  you  preparing  the  wedding  gar- 
ment ?  Some  travelers  tell  us  that  in  the  Orient, 
where  this  parable  was  given,  the  king  would  have 
had  these  rich  garments  ready,  so  that  the  guest 
would  only  have  had  to  go  and  adorn  himself  with 
one  of  them.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  God  has  a 
wedding  garment  for  you,  but  it  is  also  true  that  it 
must  be  wrought  upon  by  yourself,  and  that  it  is 
by  working  together  with  God  that  the  raiment  of 
righteousness  is  to  be  provided  in  which  you  shall 
be  at  peace  and  crowned  with  honor  at  the  great 


THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


wedding  feast.  The  last  poem  ever  written  by  Miss 
Josephine  Pollard  was  on  the  proverb,  "  For  a  web 
begun,  God    sends  the  thread,"   about  which  she 


"  Over  and  over  these  words  I  read, 
And  I  said  to  myself,  with  an  easy  air, 
'  What  need  to  burden  myself  with  care 

If  this  be  true  ? 

Or  attempt  to  do 
More  than  my  duty  ?  for  here  is  proof 
That  we  are  to  hold  ourselves  aloof, 
Until  from  the  Master  we  receive 
The  thread  for  the  web  we  are  to  weave.' 

"  So,  day  after  day,  I  sat  beside 
The  loom,  as  if  both  my  hands  were  tied. 
With  idle  shuttle  and  slackened  warp. 
Useless  as  strings  of  an  untuned  harp  ; 

For  I  took  no  part 

With  hand  or  heart 
In  the  work  of  the  world.     To  the  cry  of  need. 
The  voice  of  the  children  I  gave  no  heed. 
*  When  the  task  is  ready  for  me,'  I  said, 
'  God  will  be  sure  to  supply  the  thread.* 

"  I  had  no  strength  of  my  own,  I  knew. 

No  wisdom  to  guide  or  skill  to  do, 

And  must  wait  at  ease  for  the  word  of  command, 

For  the  message  I  surely  would  understand  ; 

Else  all  in  vain 

Were  the  stress  and  strain. 
For  the  thread  would  break,  and  the  web  be  spoiled- 
A  poor  result  for  the  hours  I'd  toiled  ; 
And  my  heart  and  my  conscience  would  be  at  strife 
O'er  the  broken  threads  of  a  wasted  life. 

•'  But  all  at  once,  like  a  gem  exhumed. 
The  word  '  begun,'  like  a  light  illumed. 


THE  DARKNESS  BEHIND  THE  STARS.  189 

From  the  rest  of  the  text  stood  boldly  out 
(By  the  finger  of  God  revealed,  no  doubt)  ; 

And  shocked  and  dazed, 

Ashamed,  amazed, 
I  saw,  as  I  had  not  seen  before. 
The  truer  meaning  the  sentence  bore, 
And  read  as  Belshazzar  might  have  read, 
'For  a  web  begun,  God  sends  the  thread.' 

"  The  man  himself,  his  mind  and  heart 
Toward  the  holy  city,  must  take  a  start. 
E'er  he  finds  in  his  hands  the  mystic  clew 
That  shall  lead  him  life's  mazes  safely  through. 

And  if  loom  and  reel 

And  spinning  wheel 
Idle  and  empty  stand  to-day. 
We  must  reason  give  for  the  long  delay, 
Since  the  voice  of  the  Master  has  plainly  said, 
'  For  a  web  begun,  God  sends  the  thread.'  " 

The  man  connected  with  our  text  could  give  no 
reason.  He  was  speechless.  It  was  not  an  acci- 
dent or  a  mistake,  or  it  might  have  been  explained. 
The  trouble  was  innate  in  his  own  self.  And  so 
there  is  nothing  that  can  excuse  us  and  nothing 
that  can  save  us  except  a  transformed  nature.  Sin 
must  be  forgiven  and  blotted  out,  not  only  in  the 
ledger  of  God,  but  our  minds  and  hearts  must  be 
purified  from  it.  It  will  not  do  to  clothe  ourselves 
in  any  worldly  robes  of  self-righteousness  or  culture, 
while  down  beneath  in  the  heart,  slumbering  or  dor- 
mant or  shut  down  under  an  iron  will,  are  evil  lusts 
and  passions  and  desires  that  only  wait  their  op- 
portunity to  run  wild  riot. 

Ah,  that  is  the  fatal  lack  of  all  those  reformers 
who  purpose  to  reform  men  and  women  by  simply 
lopping  off  certain  outbreaking  exhibitions  of  sin. 
13 


190  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

The  very  heart  itself,  which  is  full  of  dead  men's 
bones  and  where  the  hungry  tiger  of  sin  waits  and 
lurks  for  an  opportunity  to  slay  again,  must  be  ut- 
terly cleansed  and  purified  and  kept  free  from  every 
evil  euest.  Humboldt,  in  his  travels  in  South  Amer- 
ica,  tells  us  that  on  the  great  plains  where,  after  a 
long  drought,  the  genial  season  of  rain  arrives  there 
is  one  of  the  most  marvelous  transformations  of 
nature  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  The 
deep  azure  of  the  hitherto  cloudless  sky  assumes 
a  lighter  hue.  Like  some  distant  mountain,  a 
single  cloud  is  seen  rising  perpendicularly  on  the 
southern  horizon.  Misty  vapors  collect  and  grad- 
ually overspread  the  heavens,  while  distant  thun- 
der proclaims  the  approach  of  the  life-giving  rain. 
Scarcely  is  the  surface  of  the  earth  moistened  be- 
fore the  teeming  steppe  becomes  covered  with  a 
variety  of  grasses.  Excited  by  the  power  of  light, 
the  herbaceous  mimosa  unfolds  its  dormant,  droop- 
ing leaves,  hailing,  as  it  were,  the  rising  sun  in  cho- 
rus with  the  mating  song  of  the  birds  and  the  open- 
ing flowers  of  aquatic  plants.  Horses  and  oxen, 
buoyant  with  life  and  enjoyment,  roam  over  and 
crop  the  plains  which  only  last  week  were  a  barren 
desert.  The  luxuriant  grass  hides  the  beautiful 
spotted  jaguar,  who  has  been  hidden  away  in  dark 
ravines  this  long  time,  but  now,  lurking  in  safe  con- 
cealment, darts  with  a  catlike  bound  on  his  passing 
prey.  And,  down  along  the  morasses,  the  humid 
clay,  ever  and  anon,  is  seen  to  arise  slowly  in  broad 
flakes,  accompanied  by  a  violent  noise  as  on  the 
eruption  of  a  small  mud  volcano.  When  the  na- 
tives see  this  they  fly  from  these  upheavals  for  their 


THE  DARKNESS  BEHIND  THE  STARS.  191 

very  lives,  for  it  means  that  a  colossal  water  snake 
or  a  mailed  and  scaly  and  now  thoroughly  awakened 
and  hungry  crocodile,  aroused  from  its  long  trance 
by  the  first  fall  of  rain,  is  about  to  burst  from  his 
tomb. 

Is  there  not  in  this  graphic  picture  an  honest  il- 
lustration of  what  goes  on  in  many  human  hearts? 
Men  and  women,  surrounded  by  controlling  con- 
ditions under  the  hot  sun  of  social  influence  and 
propriety  or  held  in  the  grip  of  public  opinion  and 
self-interest,  often  live  lives  characterized  by  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  dry,  outward  morality,  a  negative  right- 
eousness, v/hich  looks  so  pleasing  in  their  own  eyes 
and  in  those  of  their  neighbors,  that  they  are  self- 
deceived  and  imagine  that  the  old  crocodile  of  lust 
or  the  colossal  serpent  of  greed  or  the  deadly  jaguar 
of  selfishness  has  been  utterly  tramped  to  death 
under  their  strong  Vvdlls.  And  then  again  there 
comes  a  time  when,  under  temptation  or  a  removal 
of  restraint,  these  vile  and  unholy  passions  rouse 
themselves,  and  hell  itself  does  not  seem  more  foul 
than  the  roaring  discord  of  those  sinful  hearts.  God 
grant  everyone  to  see  sin  as  it  is !  Nothing  is 
more  foolish  than  to  try  to  cover  your  sins  with  a 
false  glamour.  Better  to  look  at  them  in  all  their 
inherent  ugliness  and  know  the  awful  danger  there 
is  in  them,  that  you  may  thus  turn  to  One  who  is 
strong  and  mighty  to  deliver. 

We  were  speaking  a  (qw  moments  ago  about  the 
new  Czar  of  Russia.  Perhaps  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting incidents  connected  with  his  father,  Alexan- 
der III,  is  related  in  the  essays  of  Vereschagin,  the 
great  Russian  artist.     The  painter  was  a  personal 


192  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

friend  of  the  late  czar  and  served  in  more  than  one 
campaign,  being  severely  wounded  while  occupying 
an  important  post  upon  a  torpedo  boat  which  at- 
tacked a  Turkish  man-of-war.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  among  the  Balkans  Vereschagin  painted  an 
elaborate  set  of  historical  compositions,  which  have 
been  exhibited  in  this  country;  and  doubtless  many 
of  you  like  myself  have  been  permitted  to  see  them. 
In  these  great  paintings  the  czar  and  his  staff  and 
chief  lieutenants  were  made  to  figure  ;  but,  contrary 
to  the  method  of  the  romantic  school,  the  paintings 
in  no  way  resembled  the  series  which,  in  the  gal- 
leries of  Versailles,  commemorate  the  glories  of  Na- 
poleon. The  czar  was  not  shown  as  leading  his  im- 
petuous troops,  himself  seated  upon  a  fiery  charger, 
leaping  upon  smoking  cannon ;  but,  with  photo- 
graphic fidelity,  Alexander  III  was  shown  as  view- 
ing the  cannonading  through  a  telescope  from  a  safe 
distance,  seated  upon  a  camp  stool,  while  ''After 
the  Battle  "  showed  the  ghastly  field  of  the  dead 
with  all  its  horrible  details.  When  these  pictures 
were  first  placed  on  exhibition  in  St.  Petersburg 
they  produced  great  clamor.  Many  of  the  nobility 
desired  to  have  the  painter  summoned  to  answer  to 
a  charge  of  treason.  War  had  never  been  painted 
like  that  before,  and  the  czar  was  told  that  if  he 
permitted  his  subjects  to  see  such  representations 
of  the  conflicts  of  arms  he  might  as  well  disband  his 
army,  for  he  could  never  recruit  it.  Alexander  III 
went  to  the  gallery  and,  after  viewing  every  canvas 
for  himself,  said  quietly,  "  That  is  the  truth  about 
war;  let  Vereschagin  tell  it."  It  is  said  that  it  is 
this  experience  of  the  czar  of  what  war  really  was 


THE  DARKNESS  BEHIND  THE  STARS.  193 

that  made  him  during  his  reign  ''  the  peacemaker 
of  Europe." 

O,  that  we  were  able  to  make  men  know  what  sin 
really  is !  The  old  man  with  white  hair  and  patri- 
archal beard  who  stood  before  us  in  the  prayer 
meeting  on  Wednesday  night  and  told  us  that  he 
was  a  graduate  of  Yale,  but  that  drink  had  taken 
fortune  and  friends  and  manhood's  hopes  and  left 
him  broken  and  friendless  and  ragged — ah,  he 
knows  something  about  what  sin  is  !  But  the  young 
man  who  has  that  one  rotten  spot  of  self-indulgence 
in  him,  but  fondly  imagines  that  he  is  to  go  on  sow- 
ing for  a  little  while  the  wild  oats  which  he  will 
never  have  to  reap — God  help  us  to  make  him  know 
what  sin  means  now,  before  he  reaches  the  despair- 
ing twilight  of  the  outer  darkness  ! 

Mrs.  Ballington  Booth  found  a  young  girl  in  a 
dance  hall  who  had  still  left  ''  a  childlike  face,"  with 
some  of  the  freshness  of  the  country  lingering  on  it, 
and  who  responded  to  her  question,  "  Yes,  I  came 
from  the  country.  My  mother  Jives  away  off  in 
the  country.  But  it's  no  use  thinking  about  it,  be- 
cause— well,  because  I  am  in  this  life  now,  and 
there  is  an  end  of  it."  The  bitterness  came  back 
into  her  voice  as  she  pushed  away  the  hand  that  lay 
on  hers,  and  she  cried  out,  "  No,  no,  it's  no  good 
now;  no  one  would  have  any  use  for  me  after  this. 
Mother!  do  not  talk  to  me  about  my  mother  !  She 
thinks  I  am  at  honest  work.  It  would  kill  her  if  she 
knew  where  I  was  and  what  I  was.  She  shall 
never,  never  know  it ;  "  and  the  sob  in  her  voice 
was  changed  to  a  harsh,  grating  laugh,  like  the 
laughter  of  the  pit,  as   she   was   whirled  off  in  the 


194  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

dance  in  the  arms  of  a  low,  vulgar,  drunken  man. 
Poor  child,  she  knew  what  sin  was.  God  help  us  to 
help  other  girls  to  know  what  sin  is,  before  life 
is  made  desolate,  before  the  soul  is  scarred  and 
marred,  and  the  shadows  of  the  outer  darkness  be- 
gin to  ingulf  them  ! 

O,  brothers  and  sisters,  you  who  are  conscious  to- 
night that  you  have  turned  your  backs  on  the  Sun 
of  righteousness  and  that  you  are  facing  toward  the 
outer  darkness,  I  plead  with  you  to  go  no  farther 
into  the  dark.  Cling  to  v/hatever  of  light  and  sun- 
shine God  gives  you.  Jesus  Christ  is  our  Sun.  He 
is  the  true  light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world.  Let  no  sin  take  away  from  you  that 
light. 

It  is  related  of  one  of  the  soldiers  of  Pizarro's 
army  that  he  complained  that  he  had  lost  in  one 
night's  gambling  "  a  large  piece  of  the  sun,"  mean- 
ing a  plate  of  gold  which  he  had  obtained  at  the 
plunder  of  the  temple  of  Cuzco.  Alas,  do  I  not 
speak  to  some  who  have  already  lost  ''  a  large 
piece  of  the  Sun  ?  "  I  pray  you  not  to  go  on  until 
you  have  lost  all,  but  turn  back  in  penitence  and 
faith  toward  him  who,  with  boundless  love,  is  seek- 
ing to  save  the  lost ! 


THE  MIF^ROR  THAT  TRANSFORMS  THE  SOUL.      195 


XVII. 
THE  MIRROR  THAT  TRANSFORMS  THE  SOUL. 

"  Be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not  hearers  only,  deluding  your  own 
selves.  For  if  anyone  is  a  hearer  of  the  word,  and  not  a  doer,  he  is  hke 
unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in  a  mirror  :  for  hebeholdeth  him- 
self, and  goeth  away,  and  straightway  forgetteth  what  manner  of  man  he 
was.  But  he  that  looketh  into  the  perfect  law,  the  law  of  liberty,  and  so 
continueth,  being  not  a  hearer  that  forgetteth,  but  a  doer  that  worketh, 
this  man  shall  be  blessed  in  his  doing." — James  i,  22-26  (Revised 
Version) . 

THIS  is  a  strong  picture.  If,  instead  of  the 
''  man  "  portrayed  by  the  apostle  James,  you 
will  write  your  own  name  and  make  the  whole 
picture  apply  to  yourself  I  am  sure  your  attention 
and  yourmtenseinterest  will  at  once  be  aroused.  The 
character  pictured  here  is  not  a  feeble  one,  but  a 
strong  and  masterful  individuality  ;  not  one  who, 
looking  into  the  glass  and  seeing  himself  mirrored 
there,  with  all  his  defects  and  sins,  has  a  momentary 
wishing  and  longing  that  he  might  be  better  and  a 
lingering  hope  as  he  turns  away  that  somehow  or 
other,  in  some  vague,  unexplained  way,  an  irresist- 
ible current  of  heavenly  influence  will  overwhelm 
him  and  make  of  him  the  man  he  dimly  recognizes 
he  ought  to  be.  But,  instead,  there  is  portrayed 
before  us  one  who,  hearing  the  word  of  rebuke  and 
of  warning  and  of  promise,  does  not  forget ;  one 
who,  seeing  the  hatefulness  of  his  sins,  does  not  turn 
away,  but  seeks  to  look  deeper  into  the  mirror  of 
the  Gospel,  into  the  law  of  liberty,  to  find  how  he 


196  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

may  be  transformed  and  changed  and  how,  by  tak- 
ing hold  of  the  opportunities  that  are  placed  before 
him,  he  may,  by  God's  help,  work  out  his  own  sal- 
vation with  fear  and  trembling. 

We  have  very  clearly  stated  here  the  answer  to 
those  persons  who  excuse  themselves  from  forsaking 
their  sins  and  at  once  obeying  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  entering  upon  a  Christian  hfe  because 
they  say  they  have  certain  natural  defects.  Some- 
times it  is  a  hereditary  tendency.  A  man  says,  ^'  I 
was  born  with  a  quick  temper.  It  has  developed  in 
me  all  the  years.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  master 
and  control  it !  "  Another  says,  "  I  inherited  from 
my  ancestors  a  thirst  for  rum  and  strong  drink.  It 
is  in  my  very  blood.  I  cannot  hear  the  clink  of  the 
glasses  on  the  bar  or  see  the  bottles  in  the  window 
or  smell  it  on  the  street,  but  the  old  thirst,  for  which 
I  am  not  responsible,  but  which  comes  down  from 
generations  behind  me,  rages  like  a  mad,  hungry 
tiger  in  my  veins."  Another  says,  "  I  have  a 
skeptical  mind.  I  am  doubtful  about  everything. 
It  is  impossible  for  me  to  believe  in  anything  that  is 
supernatural.  I  cannot  believe  in  anything  I  can- 
not see  and  feel.  Sometimes  I  am  scarcely  sure  of 
my  own  consciousness."  And  still  another  says, 
"  I  am  so  retiring,  so  timid.  It  seems  such  sacri- 
lege for  me  to  talk  to  other  people  about  my 
experiences  or  to  take  any  public  stand  in  regard  to 
religion." 

And  so  I  might  use  all  my  time  for  this  discourse 
repeating,  only  in  substance,  the  excuses  and 
apologies  which  men  and  women  make  for  them- 
selves   on    every    side.     But    this    plain,     earnest 


THE  MIRROR  THAT  TRANSFORMS  THE  SOUL.      197 

scripture  looks  you  straight  in  the  face,  my  brother, 
and  says,  ''  You  are  a  responsible  actor  in  this  mat- 
ter yourself.  You  are  to  be  a  doer  of  the  word,  and 
not  a  hearer  only,  deluding  your  own  soul.  You 
are  to  look,  not  at  yourself  only,  but  into  the  perfect 
law,  the  law  of  liberty ;  and  you  are  not  only  to 
look,  but  you  are  to  continue.  You  are  to  be 
a  hearer  that  does  not  forget  and  a  doer  that  work- 
eth."  You  are  not  to  take  your  present  nature, 
distorted  and  marred  by  sin  as  it  is,  as  being  the 
nature  which  God  gives  you  or  as  representing  the 
natural  laws  which  you  are  to  follow.  If  our  nature 
is  undeveloped  and  ignorant  or  mastered  by  bad 
habits,  then  we  are  to  take  hold  of  it  by  God's 
help,  and  we  are  to  cultivate  it  and  develop  it  and 
purify  it  and  bring  it  into  such  a  condition  that  its 
natural  law  will  be  the  law  of  liberty  and  the  law 
of  righteousness. 

In  saying  this  I  am  in  harmony  with  all  the  nat- 
ural world  about  us.  God  gives  us  mountains  and 
plains  and  rivulets  and  brooks  and  rivers,  and  all 
the  panorama  of  nature  about  us,  not  in  a  perfect 
state  at  all,  so  far  as  their  relation  to  us  is  con- 
cerned, but  ready  to  be  brought  to  perfection  under 
our  hands.  Some  one  has  truly  said  that  every 
product  of  nature  is  like  a  cocoanut,  wherein  pro- 
gressive discovery  finds  the  cup  of  the  new  use 
beneath  the  oakum  exterior  of  a  present  one,  and 
within  the  second  use  the  nutritious  use  of  another, 
and  within  the  third  the  sweet  milk  of  a  fourth 
service  and  joy.  We  talk  about  the  beautiful  things 
in  nature  and  about  God's  being  the  great  Artist, 
which  is  true ;  but  wc  must  not  forget  that  we,  too. 


198  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

are  artists,  and  that  God  leaves  the  finishing 
touches,  wherever  they  have  relation  to  ourselves, 
to  us.  He  gives  us  materials,  rather  than  finished 
structures.  Yonder  is  a  rich  plain  covered  with 
wild  grasses  and  thorns  and  wild,  unfruitful  plants. 
Man  comes  with  plow  and  harrow  and  toil,  and 
wide-stretching  fields  of  wheat  or  yellow  heaps  of 
corn  or  orchards  bending  with  fragrant  apples  make 
it  a  scene  far  more  beautiful  to  human  eyes  than  it 
was  before.  Only  under  human  cultivation  does 
the  soil  produce  those  varieties  of  sweetness  and 
bloom  which  give  us  most  delight.  The  wide- 
stretching  plain,  with  its  rich  soil,  is  only  a  prophecy 
of  the  fields  of  golden  grain  and  the  husbandman's 
garner.  As  one  says,  "  Nature  includes  Raphael, 
not  Raphael  nature." 

So  it  is  true — and  it  is  a  great  truth  and  one  we 
must  never  allow  ourselves  to  forget — that  we  are 
workers  together  with  God  in  our  salvation.  We 
are  to  be  doers  of  that  work.  ''  With  the  heart  man 
believeth  unto  righteousness  ;  and  with  the  mouth 
confession  is  made  unto  salvation."  God  invites, 
we  must  respond.  The  Holy  Spirit  moves,  we  must 
yield.  Every  opportunity  is  given  for  our  spiritual 
culture  and  development,  but  if  we  sit  idle  sluggards 
we  will  be  spiritual  fools  and  bankrupts  at  the  end. 
Free  schools,  abundant  and  excellent  text-books, 
and  willing  and  well-trained  teachers  will  not  pro- 
duce a  well-educated  childhood  and  youth.  There 
must  be  the  willing  pupil,  the  eager  soul  seeking 
after  knowledge,  the  persistent  continuing  in  search 
of  that  knowledge,  until  it  not  only  becomes  a  part 
of  the   treasure  and  resource  of  the  mind,  but  has 


THE  MIRROR  THAT  TRANSFORMS  THE  SOUL.       199 

strengthened  the  mind  itself  and  enlarged  it  by  the 
intellectual  toil  through  which  it  was  acquired. 

So,  my  brother,  beheve  me,  it  is  true  that  the 
loving  fatherhood  of  God,  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ 
upon  the  cross  for  your  redemption,  the  tender 
wooing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  calling  you  to  repentance, 
the  open  Bible  with  its  mirror  with  which  you  can 
look  into  your  own  soul,  the  appeals  from  the 
pulpit,  and  the  echoing  response  from  your  own 
conscience — all  these  are  not  enough  to  avail  in 
putting  away  your  sins,  in  purifying  your  heart, 
and  in  bringing  you  into  peace  and  harmony  w^ith 
God.  You,  personally,  must  be  a  doer  that 
worketh.  Do  not,  I  beg  you,  let  anything  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  salvation  of  your  soul  !  Do  not  say, 
^'  I  must  do  this  thing  in  my  own  way.  This 
earnest  and  intense  presentation  of  the  matter  to  me 
only  confuses  and  disquiets  me.  Why  cannot  I  be  a 
Christian  in  my  own  quiet  and  silent  way,  without  any 
such  open  expression  of  my  purpose  as  you  ask?" 
Ah,  I  will  tell  you  w^iy.  It  is  because  Christ,  who 
died  to  save  you,  asks  just  this  open  and  unqualified 
obedience  and  confession  of  himself.  He  who 
fought  a  lonely  battle  for  you  in  Gethsemane  and 
on  Golgotha  asks  that  you  shall  have  open  alliance 
with  his  disciples  who  are  fighting  a  battle  to  win 
the  world  for  his  crown.  He  asks  it  of  you,  not  for 
his  sake,  but  your  own,  that  you  may  thus  put 
yourself  in  such  relation  to  him  that  he  may  save 
you. 

I  remember  a  man  who  once  said,  about  some 
earnest  meetings  in  which  men  were  finding  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  thought  they  were  too 


200  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

intense  and  noisy  for  good  taste,  and  who  ventured 
to  say  to  the  man  who  was  leading  them  that  Solo- 
mon's temple  was  built  without  any  noise,  not  even 
of  a  hammer,  and  he  could  not  see  why  the  spirit- 
ual temple  could  not  go  up  in  the  same  way.  The 
earnest  leader  exclaimed,  "  We  are  not  building  a 
temple ;  we  are  blasting  rocks." 

All  strong  manhood  must  be  produced  not  by 
repression,  but  by  expansion.  The  picture  which 
we  are  studying  does  not  present  to  us  a  man  who 
is  to  succeed  in  the  Christian  life  by  standing  guard 
always  over  himself,  like  a  policeman  on  his  beat, 
trying  to  keep  himself  from  doing  wrong;  but  he  is 
to  so  look  into  the  law  of  liberty  and  continue 
therein  that  he  shall  be  able  to  enter  upon  a  posi- 
tive, aggressive  life  of  goodness.  Things  become 
easy  and  natural  to  us  by  exercise.  That  which  we 
do  continuously  we  do  without  thinking  and  with- 
out any  conscious  will  to  do  it. 

A  monument  has  just  been  unveiled  in  Paris  in 
honor  of  one  of  the  greatest  sculptors  of  modern 
times,  Antoine  Louis  Barye.  A  distinguished 
French  orator  made  an  address  at  the  unveiling  of 
this  monument.  I  have  been  very  much  impressed, 
in  reading  this  address,  in  the  analysis  which  it 
gives  of  the  great  sculptor's  success.  His  intimate 
friend  and  eulogist  declares  that  the  great  secret  of 
his  triumph  was  his  patient  persistence  to  acquire 
perfect  knowledge  of  every  object  which  he  under- 
took to  reproduce.  He  studied  so  long  and  care- 
fully the  animals  in  the  menagerie  that  he  reached 
the  point  of  being  able  to  separate  in  thought  the 
habits  contracted  in  captivity  from  their  habits  in 


THE  MIRROR  THAT  TRANSFORMS  THE  SOUL.      201 

their  native  wilds.  With  his  mind's  eye  he  saw 
clearly  their  characteristics — the  apparent  indiffer- 
ence under  which  instinct  is  always  on  the  watch, 
their  mode  of  action  in  obtaining  their  nourish- 
ment, displaying  their  tactics  and  their  style  of 
combat.  It  was  thus  he  chose  his  subjects  and 
began  to  make  his  sketches.  But  this  did  not 
satisfy  Barye.  After  he  had  studied  the  living 
animal  until  he  looked  at  life  from  its  standpoint, 
he  went  to  the  galleries  of  comparative  anatomy. 
Compasses  in  hand,  he  measured  the  skeletons  of 
the  animals  he  wished  to  represent,  wrote  down 
the  dimensions  with  extreme  scrupulousness,  and 
fashioned  his  work  by  these  measurements  and 
notes.  Then,  with  his  perfect  knowledge,  he  went 
to  his  work,  and  the  rude  material  seemed  to 
breathe  under  his  hand.  A  lion  or  a  tiger  fashioned 
by  him  when  only  in  the  attitude  of  walking  con- 
veys to  you,  by  its  very  structure  and  poise,  its 
fatal  power  to  kill.  Barye  was  able  to  mold  these 
figures  with  such  daring  and  power,  because  of  his 
perfect  knowledge  and  familiarity  with  his  subject. 
Otherwise  it  would  have  grown  to  be  a  monster 
under  his  hands,  no  matter  how  much  genius  he 
possessed. 

Let  us  learn  the  lesson  of  the  sculptor— we  are  to 
find  liberty  through  law.  Nay,  more ;  if  we  put 
ourselves  to  school  under  God's  law,  if  we  yield  our 
hearts  in  obedience  to  Christ,  our  very  liberty  shall 
become  a  law  itself,  because  our  law  has  become 
liberty.  We  do  what  we  please  because  it  pleases 
us  to  do  right.  Do  not  hesitate  a  moment  to 
undertake  a  Christian  life  because  you  have  no  con- 


202  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

scious  power  within  yourself  how  to  ov^ercome  the 
temptations  and  passions  and  lusts  that  hold  you 
helpless.  Obey  God,  do  the  first  thing  he  asks  you, 
the  duty  that  lies  nearest,  and  you  will  have  begun 
a  year  of  ever-increasing  liberty  and  power. 

Up  in  an  apple  orchard  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Erie,  last  summer,  I  saw  a  young  robin  taking  its 
first  lessons  in  flying.  How  anxious  the  old  birds 
were,  and  how  feeble  it  seemed.  It  hung  quivering 
and  clinging  on  the  edge  of  the  nest,  the  older  birds 
appealing  to  it,  flying  about  through  the  trees  to 
show  how  easy  it  w^as  ;  and  the  poor  little  birdling, 
that  really  wanted  to  fly,  looked  on  wath  envious, 
but  almost  despairing,  eyes.  At  last  it  v\^as  aroused 
to  make  the  attempt,  and  by  springing  with  the 
aid  of  its  wings  it  dropped  on  a  bough  a  few  feet 
away.  And  there  it  rested  with  its  heart  in  its 
throat,  panting  with  fear.  Ah,  it  was  hard  work  to 
that  little  bird  to  fly  !  But  hunger,  and  the  persua- 
sion of  its  parents,  and  the  wonder-world  of  beauty 
about  it  in  the  orchard  trees,  and,  above  all,  the 
flying  birds  that  soared  about  in  such  perfect  free- 
dom and  mastery  over  the  air  lured  it  on,  until  after 
a  while,  gathering  strength,  it  flew  again,  this  time 
coming  ignominiously  to  the  ground.  And  then,  I 
suppose,  it  thought  more  than  ever  that  it  was  hard 
business  to  fly.  Then  the  old  mother  bird  took  pity 
on  it  and  went  down  and  fed  it  a  little  and  chuckled 
to  it.  I  don't  knov/  what  she  said  ;  but  I  suppose 
she  said  it  was  a  good  little  robin  to  try,  and  if  it 
would  only  keep  its  courage  up  and  keep  trying  it 
would  soon  fly  as  well  as  any  bird  in  the  orchard. 
So  after  a  while  it  flew  up  to  a  lower  bough,  and 


THE  MIRROR  THAT  TRANSFORMS  THE  SOUL.      203 

then  it  hopped  to  another  bough,  and  then  it  tried 
another  twice  as  far  away  and  missed  it  and  went 
to  the  ground  again.  And  so  on  and  on  ;  but  in 
less  than  a  week  it  could  soar  as  high  and  fly  as  far 
as  its  mother.  The  little  robin  was  living  out  the 
picture  given  in  the  text — it  was  a  hearer  that  did 
not  forget  and  a  doer  that  worked. 

What  a  noble  life  this  is  which  we  are  asked  to 
live  !  How  much  of  inspiration  there  is  in  it  !  Not 
to  spend  all  our  lives  trying  not  to  be  bad,  but  to  go 
forth  in  all  the  armor  of  God,  with  a  free  and  rap- 
turous soul,  exulting  in  the  power  to  be  and  to  do 
good.  And,  blessed  be  God,  the  world  is  so  ar- 
ranged and  we  are  so  constructed  that  this  holy 
freedom  makes  men  work  more  than  any  slavery 
that  ever  existed,  and  there  is  joy  and  singing  and 
gladness  about  their  work.  Who  toils  with  such 
fidelity  as  the  mother  caring  for  her  little  children, 
doing  for  them  the  most  menial  duties  with  glad- 
ness, and  never  asking  what  the  salary  is  that  is 
attached  to  the  wearing  position  ?  Men  may  say 
what  they  please,  but  the  devil  has  no  power  in 
hate  and  anger  that  can  match  Christ's  power  of 
love  in  arousing  the  soul  to  devoted  service.  As 
George  Herbert  sings, 

"  A  serv^ant  with  this  clause 

Makes  drudgery  divine  ; 
Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  thy  laws, 

Makes  that  and  th'  action  fine." 

This  is  the  life  to  which,  as  an  embassador  of 
Christ,  1  call  you  !  Not  a  life  of  bondage,  not  a 
life  which  shall  shut  you  out  from  liberty,  not  a  life 
which  shall    fence  off  from   you   the    good    things 


204  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

which  make  men  great.  No,  no.  It  was  a  devil's 
He  that  gave  you  such  an  idea  of  Christianity  as 
that.  I  offer  you  a  hfe  of  glorious  freedom,  of  lofty 
ambition.  For  you  there  shall  be  no  Alps  that 
shall  shut  you  out  from  the  rich  Italy  of  God's 
highest  and  noblest  experiences  reserved  for  human 
souls.  You  shall  not  go  along  the  path  of  life 
galled  by  chains  that  fret  you  and  wear  upon  you  ; 
but  with  free  step  and  exulting  soul  and  singing 
voice  you  shall  mount  upward  on  the  way  to  ever- 
lasting triumph. 

Brother,  what  shall  be  your  response  ?  Remem- 
ber those  terrible  words  of  St.  James  which  follow 
our  text  in  the  next  chapter,  in  which  he  says,  **  So 
speak  ye,  and  so  do,  as  they  that  shall  be  judged  by 
the  law  of  liberty."  How  solemn  the  thought  that 
the  final  sentence  is  to  be  pronounced  after  all  by 
ourselves  !  All  these  things  about  us  that  restrain 
us  now — the  law  of  the  State  and  the  town,  the  in- 
fluence of  home,  the  power  of  public  opinion — all 
these  are  only  temporary  matters ;  they  shall  pass 
away,  and  after  a  while  we  shall  stand  alone  before 
God,  and  then  we  are  to  be  judged  by  the  law  that 
is  in  our  own  hearts.  We  shall  be  set  free  to  be 
what  we  will ;  and  if,  during  all  these  years,  we 
have  been  cherishing  evil  thoughts  and  imagina- 
tions and  impure  longings  and  lusts  and  ambitions, 
in  that  hour  they  will  rise  up  and  judge  us. 

Well  does  Phillips  Brooks  say,  in  one  of  his 
greatest  discourses:  ''How  simple  and  sublime 
does  it  make  the  judgment  day.  We  stand  before 
the  great  white  throne  and  wait  our  verdict.  We 
watch  the  closed  lips  of  the  eternal  Judge,  and  our 


THE  MIRROR  THAT  TRANSFORMS  THE  SOUL.      205 

hearts  stand  still  until  those  lips  shall  open  and 
pronounce  our  fate — heaven  or  hell.  The  lips  do 
not  open.  The  Judge  just  lifts  his  hand  and  raises 
from  each  soul  before  him  every  law  of  constraint 
whose  pressure  has  been  its  education.  He  lifts 
the  laws  of  constraint,  and  their  results  are  mani- 
fest. The  real  intrinsic  nature  of  each  soul  leaps  to 
the  surface.  Each  soul's  law  of  liberty  becomes 
supreme.  And  each  soul,  without  one  word  of  con- 
demnation or  approval,  by  its  own  inner  tendency, 
seeks  its  own  place.  They  turn  and  separate,  fa- 
ther from  child,  brother  from  brother,  wife  from 
husband — each  with  the  old  habitual  restrictions 
lifted  off,  turns  to  its  own  ;  one,  by  an  inner  power, 
to  the  right  hand  ;  another,  by  a  like  power,  to  the 
left ;  these  up  to  heaven,  and  these  down  to  hell. 
Do  we  need  more  ?  It  needs  no  word,  no  smile, 
no  frown.  The  freeing  of  souls  is  the  judging  of 
souls.  A  liberated  nature  dictates  its  own  destiny. 
Could  there  be  a  more  solemn  judgment  seat?  Is 
it  not  a  fearful  thing  to  be  judged  by  the  law  of  lib- 
erty ?  " 

Toward  that  day  we  are  hastening.  And  so  I 
stand  and  plead  with  you,  with  all  the  earnestness 
of  my  soul,  that  you  begin  now  to  be  a  doer  of  the 
word  of  God  ;  now  to  yield  your  heart  to  the  divine 
hand  ;  now  to  submit  your  nature  to  the  cleansing 
blood  of  the  crucified  Saviour;  that  you  now  take 
hold  upon  the  hand  of  him  who,  to  as  many  as  will 
receive  him,  will  give  ''  power  to  become  the  sons 

of  God." 
14 


206  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


XVIII. 
THE  VOYAGE  OF  LIFE. 

"  They  that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  that  do  business  in  great 
waters  ;  these  see  the  works  of  the  Lord,  and  his  wonders  in  the  deep. 
For  he  commandeth,  and  raiseth  the  stormy  wind,  which  hfteth  up  the 
waves  thereof.  They  mount  up  to  tlie  heaven,  they  go  down  again  to 
the  depths  :  their  soul  is  melted  because  of  trouble.  They  reel  to  and  fro, 
and  stagger  like  a  drunken  man,  and  are  at  their  wit's  end.  Then  they 
cry  unto  the  Lord  in  their  trouble,  and  lie  bringeth  them  out  of  their  dis- 
tresses. He  maketh  the  storm  a  calm,  so  that  the  waves  thereof  are  still. 
Then  are  they  glad  because  they  be  quiet  ;  so  he  bringeth  them  unto  their 
desired  haven." — Psalm  cvii,  23-30. 

THE  whole  civilized  world  has  been  thinking  for 
the  past  few  weeks  a  great  deal  about  ships 
and  sailors  and  passengers,  and  the  interest  of  hu- 
manity has  been  centered  upon  the  sea.  Every- 
thing has  conspired  to  make  the  French  steamer 
La  Gascogne  the  center  of  the  world's  interest  for 
many  days.  First,  there  came  the  fearful  message 
to  us  of  the  terrible  wreck  of  the  Elbe,  run  down  in 
the  darkness  of  early  dawn  in  the  North  Sea,  plung- 
ing to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  with  nearly  all  her 
passengers.  And  ere  we  had  time  to  recover  from 
the  shock  we  began  to  be  anxious  for  this  French 
steamer,  which  was  overdue.  And  as  the  days  and 
nights  crept  slowly  on  the  interest  increased,  and 
the  suspense  was  the  most  terrible,  perhaps,  that 
has  ever  been  felt  in  regard  to  any  ship  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world.  The  fearful  storms  that  beat  off 
the  coast,  endangering  even  the  strongest  vessels, 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  LIFE.  207 

seemed  all  the  more  pitiless  when  we  all  felt  that 
they  were  beating  in  the  face  of  one  that  was  crip- 
pled, possibly  helpless.  But,  despite  all  fears  and 
all  storms,  La  Gascogne  has  come  into  the  desired 
haven  and  has  brought  her  cargo  and  her  passen- 
gers safely  into  port,  and  all  the  world  has  rejoiced 
at  the  happy  result.  It  is  surely  a  good  time  for  us 
to  pause  and  remember  that  we  are  all  voyagers  on 
life's  sea.  We  are  all  sailors,  pushing  our  way 
through  storm  and  tempest  and  calm,  hoping  to 
come  at  last  into  the  desired  haven.  God  grant 
that  it  may  be  so  ! 

There  are  a  few  plain,  simple  lessons  that  it  would 
be  good  for  us  to  learn  from  the  voyage  of  this 
steamer  in  which  we  have  been  so  interested.  In  the 
first  place,  we  ought  to  have  impressed  on  us  very 
deeply  the  old  lesson,  that  the  winds  and  waves  of 
the  sea  of  life  are  uncertain  and  oftentimes  very  de- 
ceitful in  their  appearance,  and  that  the  ocean  over 
which  we  are  sailing  is  likely  to  be  swept  at  any  time 
by  furious  storms.  It  is  not  an  ocean  for  toy  ships 
or  for  anything  but  the  stanchest  vessels.  There 
will  be  many  days  that  are  calm,  when  the  winds 
are  soft  and  gentle,  when  the  sky  is  blue,  and  all  is 
propitious ;  but  the  fiercest  storm  may  follow  in 
rapid  succession. 

In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  Luke  tells  us  the  story 
of  a  wonderful  voyage  taken  by  Paul.  The  great 
preacher  had  advised  against  sailing  at  the  time, 
but  the  shipowner  and  the  captain  thought  they 
knew  better  than  the  preacher ;  and  so  Luke  says 
that,  when  ''  the  south  wind  blew  softly,"  they  un- 
loosed their  ship  and  sailed  away.     But  it  was  not 


208  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

long  until  they  ran  into  the  teeth  of  the  storm  ;  and, 
though  they  escaped  with  their  lives  through  Paul's 
intercession,  the  ship  and  cargo  were  lost.  How 
many  of  the  shipwrecks  of  human  life  come  about 
because  of  confidence  placed  in  south  winds  that 
blow  softly!  We  are  to  enjoy  the  soft  south  winds 
while  they  blow,  but  we  must  not  allow  ourselves 
to  be  deceived  into  supposing  that  there  will  not  be 
any  other  kind  of  winds  which  our  ship  must  en- 
counter. If  the  weather  be  soft  and  sweet  to-day  we 
ought  rather  to  expect  that  we  will  have  something 
different  to-morrow.  The  soft  south  wind  of  our 
human  experience  ought  not  to  be  taken  as  an  in- 
timation that  such  winds  will  blow  forever ;  but  we 
ought  to  use  them  diligently  and  get  all  the  good 
out  of  them  we  possibly  can  while  they  last,  know- 
ing that  we  cannot  expect  them  to  last  always,  and 
that  a  different  wind  will  soon  take  their  place. 

If  there  are  any  hearers  here  upon  whom  the  soft 
south  winds  are  blowing,  and  who  are  trusting  that 
they  will  blow  forever,  and  who  are  shaping  their 
lives  and  making  their  plans  and  building  their  char- 
acter-ships only  for  soft  south  winds,  I  beg  that  they 
may  h-ear  my  warning.  You  could  not  make  a  worse 
use  of  prosperity  and  peace,  of  health  and  strength, 
and  of  the  mercies  of  God,  than  to  live  thus  with- 
out reference  to  the  storms  and  tempests  that  arc 
certain  to  beset  your  course  ere  it  is  ended.  If  you 
stop  to  think  you  must  realize  that  it  is  the  highest 
wisdom  to  prepare  in  warm,  sunny  days,  for  cold, 
high  winds,  for  tempests  and  threatened  shipwreck. 
The  good  sailor  on  the  sea  of  human  life  uses  the 
good  gifts  of  God's  love  and  mercy  to  make  ready 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  LIFE.  209 

for  the  time  when  the  wild  blizzard  shall  sweep  his 
deck.  I  assure  you  you  must  have  a  ship  that  can 
stand  the  storms  and  outride  the  gale  if  you  are  to 
bring  a  precious  cargo  into  the  desired  haven  at 
last. 

The  safety  of  La  Gascogiie,  after  all,  depended 
upon  the  fact  that  she  was  a  stanch  ship,  that  she 
had  been  faithfully  built,  and  had  strength  to  stand 
the  storm.  There  were  times  when  everything  de- 
pended upon  those  great,  deep-sea  anchors  which 
they  threw  out  to  hold  while  they  might  make  re- 
pairs to  her  machinery.  How  much  of  the  safety 
of  a  great  ship  depends  upon  the  fidelity  of  unknown 
workers  who  never  can  be  thanked  or  honored  like 
the  captain  who  brings  their  work  safely  into  port ! 
How  few  think  about  honoring  the  man  who  was 
faithful  in  the  making  of  that  anchor ! 

James  Freeman  Clarke  said  he  went  once  into  the 
navy  yard  at  Washington  to  see  the  forging  of  an 
anchor  by  a  steam  hammer  weighing  between  seven 
and  eight  tons.  The  great  iron  log,  a  foot  thick  and 
twenty  feet  long,  was  thrust  into  the  dark  mound  of 
coal  which  covered  the  raging  fires.  Presently  the 
windlass  heaved  it  up,  blinding  bright  with  a  white 
heat,  and  it  was  swung  upon  the  anvil ;  and  then  a 
man  turning  a  winch  managed  the  rise  and  fall  of 
the  enormous  hammer,  which  moved  softly  down 
its  grooves  so  as  to  give  gentle  blows,  or  fell  with 
crushing  weight  upon  the  red-hot  mass,  hammering 
it  into  solid  consistency.  The  poor  iron,  if  it  could 
only  have  thought  about  it,  might  have  considered 
its  lot  a  hard  one.  It  might  have  said,  "  Why  was 
I  taken  from   my  mine,  where  God  had  put  me,  to 


210  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

be  melted  in  a  furnace,  and  then  to  be  thus  heated 
in  insufferable  fires  and  crushed  by  these  terrible 
blows?"  And  then  it  might  have  been  answered  : 
*'  This  stern  experience  is  to  make  you  strong  and 
fit  you  for  a  great  work.  You  are  thus  made  tena- 
cious and  tough  in  order  to  become  a  noble  anchor, 
to  hold  amid  the  storm  the  tossing  vessel  which  has 
drifted  among  breakers.  On  its  lee  will  be  the  shore, 
over  which,  a  cable's  length  off,  the  waves  are  burst- 
ing mast-high,  white  with  frightful  death  to  passen- 
gers and  crew.  But  you,  O  anchor,  made  strong 
by  this  trial,  shall  hold  them  safe,  because  of  the 
strength  you  have  gained  in  this  hell  of  fire.  Your 
great  flukes  will  cling  firm  to  the  bottom,  the  vessel 
will  ride  safely  through  the  storm  held  by  your  un- 
flinching resistance,  and  the  lives  of  the  sailors  will 
be  as  safe  as  though  they  were  sleeping  in  their  own 
quiet  homes,  where  their  anxious  wives  look  through 
the  windows  into  the  terrible  night." 

If  there  are  any  listening  to  me  who  are  now  in 
the  experience  of  making — who  are  now  in  the  fur- 
nace or  under  the  hammer  of  sorrow  and  trial,  of 
hard  experiences  grievous  to  be  borne — I  pray  God 
that  they  may  so  yield  themselves  up  to  the  influ- 
ence of  his  providence,  may  so  submit  themselves 
to  his  will,  that  they  may  be  built  up  in  strength 
and  power  and  in  the  great  emergencies  that  shall 
come  in  their  future  course  may  bring  safety,  like 
that  great  anchor,  not  to  their  own  souls  only,  but 
to  all  who  put  their  confidence  in  them  ! 

There  is  another  lesson  which  ought  to  come  with 
great  comfort  to  every  storm-tossed  soul  here,  and 
that  is  the  joy  and  gladness  which  have  filled  the 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  LIFE.  211 

whole  world  over  the  safe  arrival  in  port  of  the 
French  steamer.  The  coming  in  of  a  dozen  other 
steamers  about  which  there  had  been  little,  if  any, 
fear  was  not  the  cause  of  one  hundredth  part  as 
much  rejoicing  as  the  coming  in  of  this  one  steamer 
that  had  been  in  danger.  That  is  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  the  whole  universe  of  God.  That  was 
what  Jesus  meant  when  he  said  that  there  is  more 
joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth  than 
over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons  which  need  no 
repentance. 

I  have  read  somewhere  the  story  of  an  afternoon 
at  Havre,  the  place  from  whence  La  Gascogne  ^^XX^di. 
A  fearful  gale  was  blowing  from  the  westward  up 
the  English  channel  directly  into  this  unsheltered 
port.  Great  crowds  of  people  had  gone  down  on 
the  long  pier  to  watch  the  ships  come  in.  The  har- 
bor of  Havre  is  made  by  two  stone  piers  stretching 
out,  one  a  mile  and  the  other  something  less,  west- 
ward into  the  sea.  Along  the  shore  outside  these 
piers  are  shoals  and  sand  bars ;  and  inside,  between 
them,  close  to  the  city,  is  the  excavated  harbor, 
with  its  splendid  granite  docks.  In  the  storm  the 
multitude  had  come  down,  in  spite  of  the  wind  that 
threatened  to  blow  them  off  their  feet  and  of  the 
spray  that,  in  the  fury  of  the  storm,  broke  over  the 
piers,  to  see  the  ships  come  in  out  of  danger.  Such 
of  the  Havre-bound  ships  as  were  well  to  the  wind- 
ward were  in  no  great  danger,  but  came  on  before 
the  gale  with  their  storm  sails  set,  like  great  white 
gulls.  Now  came  a  French  merchantman,  now  a 
New  York  packet  ship,  and  now  a  full-rigged  man 
of  war,  all  bearing  on  and  bounding  over  the  waves 


212  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

as  though  full  of  free  life.  One  by  one  they  came 
down,  skillfully  guided  by  pilot  and  helmsman.  As 
they  neared  the  port  they  reduced  even  their  little 
canvas,  and,  riding  gracefully  on  the  top  of  the 
huge  billows,  swept  in  by  the  pier  head  and  then  into 
the  smooth  and  safe  waters  of  the  inner  harbor. 
One  might  go  the  world  over  and  live  a  lifetime  and 
never  see  a  more  beautiful  sight. 

But  presently,  away  to  leeward,  almost  among 
the  sand  banks,  came  a  poor,  crippled  collier,  most 
of  her  sails  torn  to  shreds  and  her  masts  bending 
under  the  force  of  the  gale.  Once  upon  a  sand 
bank  and  her  day  was  over.  She  fought  gallantly 
for  her  life.  "  She  can't  weather  the  shoals.  She  can 
never  fetch  the  pier  head,"  cried  the  old  tars,  turn- 
ing their  eyes  from  the  well-equipped  windward  ves- 
sels to  this  forlorn  craft,  struggling  at  such  odds 
with  the  winds  and  waves.  Now  she  seems  to  be 
making  a  little  progress,  and  then  the  great  brute 
forces  of  nature  bore  her  av/ay  and  av/ay  again,  till 
she  trembled  and  panted,  breathless  and  baffled, 
like  a  living  thing  hunted  and  brought  to  bay.  Now, 
in  her  efforts  to  gain  the  harbor  she  seemed  blown 
down  into  the  very  edge  of  the  breakers;  then,  by 
skillful  evolutions,  her  course  Avas  changed  ;  or,  as 
the  sailors  say,  she  "  v/ore  ship"  and  stood  off. 
But  again  the  wind  sent  her  back,  and  again  she 
neared  the  breakers  and  had  to  tack  once  more. 
By  and  by  the  turn  of  the  tide  began  to  help  the 
desperate  will  of  the  sailors.  Then  slowly  she  drew 
along  toward  the  port ;  and  as  she  approached  the 
most  dangerous  point  of  the  shoals  the  eyes  of 
every  looker-on  followed  each  motion  eagerly.    One 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  LIFE.  213 

moment  she  seemed  whelmed  hi  the  breakers,  but 
the  next  she  had  passed  on  toward  the  pier  head. 
When  she  reached  it  both  men  and  ship  seemed 
exhausted.  But  ropes  were  thrown  from  the  pier 
and  were  secured  by  the  sailors  ;  and  then,  as  a 
thousand  hands  seized  them  and  drew  the  poor 
tempest-worn  vessel  into  the  harbor,  a  multitude  of 
voices  shouted  a  welcome. 

There  was  more  rejoicing  over  the  poor  collier 
than  over  all  the  others.  And  that  is  just  the  way 
it  will  be  when  we  come  to  reach  heaven.  One  may 
get  there  ever  so  hardly,  he  may  be  battered  and 
scarred  and  stained,  with  sails  torn  and  ragged  ; 
but  if  he  is  faithful  and  perseveres  unto  the  end  he 
shall  find  all  the  ransomed  throng  of  the  redeemed 
and  all  the  multitudes  of  the  angelic  host  ready  to 
welcome  him  with  outstretched  hands  and  songs  of 
victory.  The  giving  up  one's  heart  to  God,  the  es- 
caping from  sin  and  finding  forgiveness  and  salva- 
tion, is  often  aptly  compared  to  the  sailor  getting 
into  port,  where  he  may  ride  in  peace  at  anchor.  I 
trust  there  shall  be  some  who  shall  find  the  haven 
of  forgiveness  now. 

Dr.  George  Pentecost  describes  the  following- 
scene  in  one  of  his  services  :  "  Seated  in  the  front 
row,  immediately  before  the  platform,  one  evening, 
were  three  men,  who  paid  the  closest  attention  to 
the  sermon  all  the  way  through.  Toward  the  close 
of  his  address  he  was  impelled  to  make  a  direct  ap- 
peal to  one  of  these  three  men — the  one  who  seemed 
the  most  interested.  So,  turning  to  him,  he  said, 
"Young  man,  are  you  a  Christian?"  Almost  be- 
fore  he   had  the  words  out  of  his  mouth  the  man 


214  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

addressed  sprang  to  his  feet  and  answered  in  a  clear, 
full  voice,  "  Yes,  thank  God,  I  am,  and  have  been 
for  the  last  thirteen  months."  ''Are  you  a  sailor?" 
Dr.  Pentecost  asked,  for  there  was  something  about 
him  that  suggested  his  calling.  "Yes,"  was  the 
response ;  "  and  this,"  pointing  to  one  of  the  men 
by  his  side,  ''  is  my  first  officer,  and  I  am  second 
officer  of  our  ship."  "  Is  your  first  officer  a  Chris- 
tian too?  "  "  O  yes,  thank  God,  he  is  for  Christ." 
Then  pointing  to  the  man  on  the  other  side,  the 
preacher  said,  "  And  how  about  your  shipmate  who 
is  sitting  by  you  ?  Is  he  a  Christian  too  ?  "  "  No^ 
not  yet,  but  I  think  he  is  beating  up  that  way." 

The  preacher's  next  impulse  was  to  appeal  to  the 
man  who,  in  the  language  of  the  sailor,  was  "  beat- 
ing up  that  way;  "  so  he  said,  "  Come,  shipmate, 
why  not  drop  your  anchor  and  come  to  rest  in  the 
harbor  of  peace  right  here,  by  accepting  Christ?  " 
At  this  the  sailor  man,  with  eyes  full  of  tears,  shook 
his  head  and  said,  "  I  am  in  a  fog !  "  Thank  God  ! 
in  the  after  meeting  that  followed  he  was  gently  led 
through  the  fog  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  went 
away  with  peace  in  his  soul.  I  have  often  thought 
of  that  expression  of  the  second  officer,  "  He  is 
beating  up  that  way."  If  there  is  anybody  here 
who  is  in  that  condition,  beating  your  way  against 
the  wind  with  the  fog  all  about  him,  I  pray  that  he 
may  give  up  that  hopeless  task  and  take  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  on  board  his  ship.  If  he  does  it  will 
be  as  it  was  when  the  disciples  took  him  into  the 
ship  so  long  ago  and  found  themselves  immediately 
at  the  land. 


THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW.  215 


XIX. 

THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW. 

"  And  Jehu  drew  a  bow  with  his  full  strength."— 2  Kings  ix,  24. 

A  GROUP  of  army  officers  were  sitting  together 
in  familiar  conversation  at  Ramoth-gilead, 
when  suddenly  there  came  up  a  young  theological 
student  from  a  school  of  the  prophets  that  had  been 
founded  by  Elijah.  The  young  man  came  hurriedly 
and  stood  before  Jehu  and  said,  "  I  have  an  errand 
to  thee,  O  captain!  "  And  Jehu  inquired,  "Unto 
which  of  all  us  ?  "  And  the  prophet  replied,  "  To 
thee,  O  captain."  And  Jehu  arose  and  followed 
him  into  the  house ;  and  when  they  had  reached  a 
private  chamber  the  young  prophet  took  a  box  of 
oil  which  he  had  carried  in  his  hand,  and,  to  the 
great  astonishment  of  Jehu,  he  poured  it  on  the 
soldier's  head  and  said  unto  him,  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel,  I  have  anointed  thee  king  over 
the  people  of  the  Lord,  even  over  Israel.  And 
thou  shalt  smite  the  house  of  Ahab  thy  master, 
that  I  may  avenge  the  blood  of  my  servants  the 
prophets,  and  the  blood  of  all  the  servants  of  the 
Lord,  at  the  hand  of  Jezebel.  For  the  whole  house 
of  Ahab  shall  perish." 

Immediately  after  his  message  was  delivered  the 
young  prophet,  who  I  suspect  was  scared  half  to 
death  with  his  own  message,  opened  the  door  and 


216  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

fled.  It  was  a  perilous  time,  a  time  full  of  doubt 
and  discord,  and  the  officers  outside  were  full  of  in- 
terest as  to  what  was  going  on  within.  So  when 
Jehu  came  forth  one  shouted  out  to  him,  "  Is  all 
well  ?  Wherefore  came  this  mad  fellow  to  thee  ?  " 
And  Jehu,  wishing  to  test  them,  said,  "  Ye  know 
the  man,  and  his  communication."  But  they  said, 
"  It  is  false  ;  tell  us  now."  And  then  Jehu  told 
them  all — the  wonderful  message  that  had  come  to 
him,  the  rebellion  that  was  thus  inaugurated  against 
the  house  of  Ahab,  that  he  himself  was  chosen  to 
be  the  leader  of  it  and  had  but  just  now  been 
anointed  king  by  the  prophet.  With  whatever 
great  astonishment  these  men  may  have  listened  to 
the  story,  there  was  a  scrambling  to  their  feet  when 
he  was  through.  In  a  moment  they  had  made 
their  decision  to  stand  by  the  new  order  of  things, 
and  the  record  says :  *'  Then  they  hasted,  and  took 
every  man  his  garment,  and  put  it  under  him  on 
the  top  of  the  stairs,  and  blew  with  trumpets,  say- 
ing, Jehu  is  l:i ng." 

Now  at  this  time  Joram,  the  King  of  Israel,  was 
at  Jezreel.  So  Jehu  ordered  out  a  chariot  and  went 
with  all  haste  to  Jezreel  to  meet  his  foe.  Another 
king,  Azariah,  King  of  Judah,  ''  was  come  down  to 
see  Joram.  And  there  stood  a  watchman  on  the 
tower  at  Jezreel,  and  he  spied  the  company  of  Jehu 
as  he  came,  and  said,  I  see  a  company.  And  Joram 
said.  Take  an  horseman,  and  send  to  meet  them,  and 
let  him  say.  Is  it  peace?  So  there  went  one  on 
horseback  to  meet  him,  and  said.  Thus  saith  the 
king,  Is  it  peace?  And  Jehu  said,  What  hast  thou 
to  do  with  peace?  turn  thee  behind  me.     And  the 


THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW.  217 

watchman  told,  saying,  The  messenger  came  to 
them,  but  he  cometh  not  again.  Then  he  sent  out 
a  second  on  horseback,  which  came  to  them  and 
said.  Thus  saith  the  king,  Is  it  peace?  And  Jehu 
answered.  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  peace  ?  turn 
thee  behind  me.  And  the  watchman  told,  saying. 
He  came  even  unto  them,  and  cometh  not  again  : 
and  the  driving  is  like  the  driving  of  Jehu  the  son 
of  Nimshi ;  for  he  driveth  furiously.  And  Joram 
said,  Make  ready.  And  his  chariot  was  made  ready. 
And  Joram  King  of  Israel  and  Ahaziah  King  of  Ju- 
dah  went  out,  each  in  his  chariot,  and  they  went 
out  against  Jehu,  and  met  him  in  the  portion  of 
Naboth  the  Jezreelite.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when 
Joram  saw  Jehu,  that  he  said,  Is  it  peace,  Jehu  ?  " 
And  Jehu  hissed  through  his  teeth,  with  the  ferocity 
of  a  tiger,  that  there  would  be  no  peace  so  long  as 
the  abominations  of  Jezebel  continued.  And  Jo- 
ram, seeing  in  an  instant  that  Jehu  meant  his  de- 
struction, turned  and  fled,  crying  out,  "  There  is 
treachery,  O  Ahaziah."  And  then  Jehu  drew  a 
bow  with  his  full  strength  and  smote  the  king  be- 
tween his  arms,  and  the  arrow  went  out  at  his  heart, 
and  he  sunk  down  dead  in  his  chariot. 

I  have  not  the  slightest  interest  in  making  any 
defense  of  the  after  conduct  of  Jehu.  You  may 
think  just  as  well  or  just  as  badly  of  him  as  you 
please.  But  we  have  in  the  culmination  of  this 
story  which  I  have  thus  briefly  sketched  for  you, 
mostly  from  the  fascinating  Scripture  narrative  itself, 
a  graphic  and  suggestive  theme.  Jehu  had  some 
characteristics  that  belong  to  all  great  success. 

First,  he  was  a  prompt  man.     He  did  not  wait 


218  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

for  the  grass  to  grow  on  the  road  between  Ramoth- 
gilead  and  Jezreel.  He  did  not  wait  for  the  rumor 
of  his  having  been  anointed  king  to  sift  itself 
through  the  country  round  about  and  give  a  chance 
for  some  enemy  to  arouse  a  counter  conspiracy. 
He  did  not  dekiy  until  Joram  the  king  should  hear 
of  it  and  have  a  chance  to  flee  to  some  place  of 
safety  or  to  fortify  himself  against  attack.  Jehu 
was  the  kind  of  man  who  takes  time  by  the  forelock. 
He  is  in  his  chariot  at  once.  His  face  is  turned 
toward  his  foe.  It  is  to  be  a  life  and  death  grapple. 
There  cannot  be  two  kings  in  Israel ;  one  of  them 
must  die.  And  so  he  drives  straight  to  the  point 
where  danger  lies  and  where  his  battle  is  to  be 
fought.  He  not  only  drives,  but  he  does  not  spare 
the  whip.  He  drives  furiously.  He  means  busi- 
ness. He  has  thrown  himself  with  all  the  vigor  and 
intensity  of  his  soul  into  this  thing.  And  when 
the  time  comes  for  action  he  does  not  play  with  the 
tragic  business  he  has  on  hand.  He  does  not  shoot 
to  cripple  the  king  ;  he  draws  his  bow  with  his  full 
strength,  and  the  arrow  leaves  its  place  with  all  the 
tremendous  force  of  his  strong  right  arm,  speeding 
straight  to  the  heart  of  the  doomed  man. 

Now  I  want  that  we  should  use  this  picture  as  a 
suggestion  to  us  of  the  duty  of  the  Christian  church 
and  as  indicating  to  us  the  conditions  of  success  in 
fighting  the  evil  and  building  up  the  kingdom  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  A  church  ought  to  pull  its 
bow  with  full  strength,  so  that  it  may  send  its  arrows 
flying  with  deadly  force  into  the  heart  of  every  evil 
thing  in  the  community.  Jehu  was  anointed  to  be 
God's   executioner  of  the  v/icked  house  of  Ahab. 


THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW.  219 

The  Christian  church  stands  in  the  world  to-day- 
anointed  and  commissioned  to  fight  every  evil  in- 
stitution, to  conquer  every  wicked  lust  and  passion, 
to  overthrow  and  destroy  every  form  of  iniquity  by 
which  manhood  and  womanhood  are  oppressed  or 
degraded.  We  are  not  in  the  world  simply  to  hold 
a  fortress,  but  to  aggressively  conquer  the  world  for 
Jesus  Christ.  We  are  to  "  keep  the  faith  " — but  we 
are  to  keep  it,  not  in  a  granary  where  it  may  mold, 
but  by  sowing  it  broadcast  in  the  fields  of  human 
thought,  in  the  rich  soil  of  human  hearts,  until  it 
shall  bring  forth  its  harvest  in  glorified  human  lives. 

What  are  some  of  the  conditions  which  make  it 
possible  for  a  church  to  pull  its  bow  with  full 
strength  ? 

First,  there  must  be  a  loyalty  to  God  on  the  part 
of  the  membership.  There  must  be  a  devotion  to 
Jesus  Christ,  as  our  Leader  and  our  King.  Jehu's 
courage  came  more  than  all  else  from  the  fact  that 
he  was  assured  that  he  was  fulfilling  God's  purpose. 
He  had  been  anointed  by  the  prophet  of  God.  He 
had  been  told  in  the  most  solemn  and  emphatic  man- 
ner that  divine  justice  had  ordained  the  overthrow 
of  the  house  of  Ahab.  And  thus,  as  he  drove  furi- 
ously toward  Jezreel,  his  heart  was  nerved  with  the 
conviction  that  the  divine  power  watched  over  him 
and  that  the  strength  of  God  should  be  with  him 
and  give  him  success.  Such  a  conviction  could  not 
but  exalt  him  in  his  spirit  and  add  fervor  to  his  de- 
votion to  his  purpose.  We  need  a  self-devotion 
like  that  to-day — a  supreme  consecration  on  the 
part  of  every  member  of  the  church,  pledging  us 
to  absolute  loyalty  to  the  purpose  of  God. 


220  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Paul,  in  telling  the  Corinthians  about  the  wonder- 
ful prosperity  of  the  Macedonian  Christians,  says 
that  they  "  first  gave  their  own  selves  to  the  Lord." 
That  is  what  we  must  do  if  the  church  is  to  be  in 
this  city  the  mighty  force  for  righteousness  which 
God  expects  of  us.  Mr.  Beecher  once  said  that  the 
trouble  with  some  people  was  that  they  wanted  re- 
ligion as  a  sort  of  spiritual  orchestra  to  hover  over 
them  in  the  clouds  and  make  sweet  music  for  them, 
while  their  real  life  was  in  the  dirt.  Do  not  be  thus 
self-deceived.  The  church  is  worthless  to  you  un- 
less it  does  something  more  than  charm  your  ears. 
Its  greater  purpose  is  to  renovate  your  heart,  to 
purify  your  soul,  to  harness  you  to  the  great  pur- 
poses which  God  has  for  you  in  the  world,  to  bring 
you  into  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ,  to  nerve  your 
arm  with  courage  to  do  heroic  and  noble  deeds. 
And  just  in  proportion  as  that  spirit  possesses  the 
church  the  church  ceases  to  be  a  social  or  a  reli- 
gious club  and  comes  to  be,  in  deed  and  in  truth,  a 
church  of  the  living  God. 

A  church,  in  order  to  give  full  force  to  its  arrows 
of  action  and  deed,  must  be  united  and  harmonious 
in  its  enthusiastic  loyalty  to  Christ.  Love  for  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  must  be  such  a 
warm  and  real  fact  that  it  will  overcome  all  lesser 
differences  and  hold  the  people  together  as  a  unit 
by  the  force  of  its  heavenly  magnetism.  If  Jehu's 
captains  had  been  divided  and  quarrelsome  it  vv^ould 
have  been  useless  to  have  anointed  him  king.  But, 
whatever  may  have  been  their  private  differences  of 
opinion,  they  dropped  everything  else  to  shout  for 
Jehu.     Every  man  was  in  his  place,  with  his  trumpet 


THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW.  221 

in  his  hands  and  the  cry  on  his  hps,  "  Jehu  is 
king!" 

So  the  strong  church  that  nothing  can  resist  is 
the  church  whose  membership  is  full  of  enthusiastic 
and  united  love  for  Christ.  We  are  not  all  alike.  In 
a  large  church  there  will  be  great  diversity  of 
opinion  as  to  methods  and  the  minor  details  of  the 
church  work  ;  but,  if  a  church  is  to  be  strong  in  its 
great  mission  of  fighting  evil  to  the  death  and  win- 
ning souls  to  the  standard  of  Jesus  Christ,  all  private 
differences  of  opinion  must  give  way  before  the  com- 
mon good  of  all  and  in  the  presence  of  supreme  loy- 
alty to  the  Christ,  who  is  our  Saviour  and  Redeemer. 

Dr.  David  H.  Moore,  of  the  Western  Christian 
Advocate,  finds  a  striking  editorial  sermon  in  the 
pathetic  surprise  and  grief  of  the  Chinese  emperor 
at  the  universal  defeat  of  his  armies.  The  news- 
papers tell  of  his  interview  with  his  council  in  which 
his  breaking  heart  sobbed  out  its  anguish.  He  had 
provided  his  officers  with  careful  training  for  the  ex- 
igencies of  war,  furnished  unstinted  treasure  to  pay 
his  soldiers,  equipped  them  with  the  most  improved 
weapons,  and  provisioned  them  for  the  severest  and 
most  prolonged  campaign.  But  when  the  hour  of 
trial  came  his  soldiers  were  sent  to  slaughter  or  ig- 
nominious defeat  bearing  arms  of  obsolete  patterns 
to  stand  up  against  the  latest  rifles  and  machine 
guns,  and  many  of  his  officers  turned  traitors  or 
cowards.  Where  he  had  a  right  to  expect  unity  he 
found  division  ;  where  abundance,  poverty ;  where 
splendidly  equipped  and  disciplined  soldiery,  a 
starving,  ill-assorted,  spiritless  rabble. 

May  we  not  find  in  this  a  lesson  for  ourselves  ?  In 
15 


222  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

our  great  contest  with  the  hosts  of  sin,  what  does 
our  King  find  in  his  church?  He  has  done  all  for 
us  that  it  is  possible  for  unlimited  power  and  wis- 
dom and  love  to  do.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  offered  to 
everyone  that  will  ask  in  sincerity.  All  power  in 
heaven  and  earth  is  pledged  to  us  if  we  fight  loyally 
for  him.  Are  we  faithful  to  this  divine  Leader  ?  If, 
like  the  Chinese  officers,  instead  of  being  loyal  to  our 
great  opportunity,  we  give  way  to  self-indulgence, 
seeking  only  our  own  ease  and  our  own  comfort, 
how  certainly  the  church  will  come,  in  its  battle 
against  sin,  to  disaster  and  ruin  !  On  the  other 
hand,  if  we  are  true  to  him  we  will  find  that  no  op- 
position that  can  be  brought  against  us  can  prosper, 
and  we  shall  be  able  to  pluck  new  honors  and  many 
crowns  with  which  to  adorn  our  Lord. 

A  church  cannot  pull  a  bow  with  its  full  strength 
unless  there  is  a  general  disposition  on  the  part  of 
its  membership  to  work  to  the  full  amount  of  their 
abihty.  A  church  is  a  combination,  a  consolidation 
of  added  forces.  It  is  like  the  current  of  a  river — 
each  stream  which  comes  down  from  the  hills,  hav- 
ing its  own  little  history  and  story,  adds  its  full 
force  of  momentum  and  power  to  the  great  river 
with  which  it  casts  its  lot.  It  may  be  that  when 
mill  wheels  are  turned,  when  cities  are  supplied 
with  water,  and  great  ships  are  borne  on  its  bosom, 
no  one  stream  can  tell  or  boast  that  it  was  its  power 
that  accomplished  the  result ;  and  yet  all  alike 
work  together  to  fulfill  the  great  mission.  So  a 
church  is  strong  only  as  its  membership  is  strong. 
If  individuals  of  the  church  are  weak  in  courage, 
nerveless  in  purpose,    cold  and  lukewarm  in  devo- 


THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW.  223 

tion,  given  up  to  worldliness  and  indifference, 
the  whole  body  of  the  church  must  feel  the  effect  of 
it  and  be  largely  weakened  and  hurt  by  it.  This  is 
true  of  every  department  of  church  work.  The 
mighty  force  of  the  church  which  comes  from  the 
union  of  the  many  cannot  pull  its  bow  with 
full  strength  unless  the  individuals  composing  the 
many  shall  each  give  their  full  quota  of  power. 
The  influence  of  the  individual,  even  in  a  large 
company  of  people,  is  almost  impossible  to  compute. 
It  may  seem  to  be  a  comparatively  weak  and 
unknown  factor,  but  the  influence  for  good  or  bad 
may  be  tremendous.  Mrs.  Belle  Chase  sings  this 
marvelous  power  of  influence  with  true  poetic  in- 
siofht  : 


'fc.' 


"  .One  morn,  from  careless  lips, 

In  thoughtless  haste, 

A  harsh  word  fell. 
By  swift  North  wind  'twas  quickly  caught ; 
Scarce  thinking  of  the  harm  he  wrought, 
Upon  his  blighting  wings  he  bore 
The  thoughtless  word  from  shore  to  shore  ; 
Above  the  listening  towns  he  flew, 
Until,  at  night,  the  whole  world  knew 

The  sorry  tale. 

"  One  morn,  from  smiHng  lips, 

A  glad  song  rang. 

Of  sweet  good  will. 
The  West  wind  heard  the  sweet  refrain, 
And  quickly  caught  the  lovely  strain. 
To  suffering  souls,  by  sorrow  bowed. 
Through  lanes  she  flew,  and  city's  crowd, 
With  healing  balm  for  error's  wound, 
Until  at  night,  the  whole  world  round 

Could  sing  the  song." 


224  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

This  contribution  of  one's  full  share  of  force  must 
extend  itself  to  temporal,  as  well  as  spiritual,  things 
if  the  church  is  to  draw  its  bow  with  its  full  strength. 
Many  people  in  a  large  church,  who  are  notable  to 
give  what  seem  to  them  large  sums,  excuse  them- 
selves from  all  share  in  bearing  the  financial  burden 
of  the  church,  until  the  church  is  crippled  for  lack 
of  the  money  which  would  be  abundant  in  the 
treasury  if  all  shared  with  equal  fidelity  in  its  sup- 
port. Young  man  and  young  woman,  you  should 
be  specially  aroused  by  our  theme  this  morning  to 
discipline  yourselves  in  youth,  while  perhaps  the 
sums  you  are  able  to  give,  either  financially,  socially, 
or  spiritually,  seem  very  small  to  you,  yet  to  give 
what  you  are  able  to  give  with  the  same  fidelity  and 
devotion,  and  with  the  same  feeling  of  conscientious 
responsibility  as  the  steward  of  God's  good  things, 
as  you  would  if  you  were  able  to  give  largely.  We 
hear  a  great  deal  of  talk,  and  rightly,  about  the 
duty  of  very  gifted  and  talented  men  and  women  or 
very  rich  people  to  hold  their  gifts  and  talents  and 
riches  as  God's  stewards;  but  is  it  not  just  as  true 
that  the  man  who  has  one  talent — whether  it  be  in- 
fluence or  position  or  money — is  just  as  truly  ac- 
countable to  God  for  his  use  of  it  as  the  man  who 
has  ten?  The  strong  church  is  where  rich  and 
poor,  old  and  young,  strong  and  weak,  stand  side  by 
side  in  blessed  fellovv^ship,  each  doing  what  he  can, 
each  adding  a  little,  more  or  less,  according  to 
ability,  to  make  that  strong  right  arm  of  power 
which  draws  the  bow  of  the  church's  influence  to  its 
full  strength. 

The  church  becomes  sacred  and  precious  to  us  in 


THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW.  225 

proportion  as  we  give  ourselves  to  it.  That  time- 
worn  phrase,  "  I  belong  to  the  church,"  may  mean 
very  much  or  very  Httle  to  you.  How  much  it 
means  to  some  famihes !  I  know  I  look  into  the 
faces  of  some  of  you  here  to  whom  the  church  of 
God  is  the  most  precious  thing  in  all  the  world. 
Your  home  life,  your  social  life,  your  personal  reli- 
gious experience,  all  the  tender  ties  of  fellowship, 
human  and  divine,  have  been  woven  together  in  the 
life  of  the  church.  Dr.  J.  W.  Chad  wick  sings  a 
sweet  little  song  entitled,  ''  The  Golden  Robin's 
Nest  :  " 

"The  goklen  robin  came  to  huild  his  nest 
High  in  the  elm  tree's  ever  nodding  crest ; 
All  the  long  day,  upon  his  task  intent, 
Backward  and  forward  busily  he  went, 

"  Gathering  from  far  and  near  the  tiny  shreds 
That  birdies  weave  for  little  birdies'  beds  ; 
Now  bits  of  grass,  now  bits  of  vagrant  string. 
And  now  some  queerer,  dearer  sort  of  thing. 

"  For  on  the  lawn,  where  he  was  wont  to  come 
In  search  of  stuff  to  build  his  pretty  home. 
We  dropped  one  day  a  lock  of  golden  hair. 
Which  our  wee  darling  easily  could  spare  ; 

"  And,  close  beside  it,  tenderly  we  placed 
A  lock  that  had  the  stooping  shoulders  graced 
Of  her  old  grandsire  ;  it  was  white  as  snow. 
Or  cherry  trees  when  they  are  all  ablow. 

"  Then  throve  the  golden  robin's  work  apace  ; 
Hundreds  of  times  he  sought  the  lucky  place 
Where  sure,  he  thouglit,  in  his  bird  fashion  dim, 
Wondrous  provision  had  been  made  for  him. 


226  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

"  Both  locks,  the  white  and  golden,  disappeared  ; 
The  nest  was  finished,  and  the  brood  was  reared  ; 
And  then  there  came  a  pleasant  summer's  day 
When  the  last  golden  robin  flew  away. 

"  Erelong,  in  triumph,  from  its  leafy  height, 
We  bore  the  nest  so  wonderfully  light, 
And  saw  how  prettily  the  white  and  gold 
Made  warp  and  woof  of  many  a  gleaming  fold. 

"But  when  again  the  golden  robins  came, 
Cleaving  the  orchards  with  their  breasts  aflame, 
Grandsire's  white  locks  and  baby's  golden  head 
Were  lying  low,  both  in  one  grassy  bed. 

"  And  so  more  dear  than  ever  is  the  nest 
Ta'en  from  the  elm  tree's  ever  nodding  crest. 
Little  the  golden  robin  thought  how  rare 
A  thing  he  wrought  with  white  and  golden  hair." 

The  church  of  God  is  the  nesting  place  where 
God  weaves  together  the  sweetest  and  most  sacred 
memories  of  our  human  Hves.  Ah,  I  do  not  believe 
you  all  appreciate  how  much  the  church  really 
means  to  you.  Recall,  I  pray  you,  while  I  speak, 
its  countless  mercies.  Many  of  you  were  brought 
to  its  sacred  altars  by  saintly  hands  that  have 
ceased  to  work  on  earth.  You  have  grown  up 
there.  You,  in  turn,  have  brought  your  little 
children  there  for  baptism.  When  they  have 
grown  to  manhood  or  womanhood  you  have  seen 
them  wedded  there  at  God's  altar.  When  one  has 
fallen  by  the  wayside  you  have  brought  the  loved 
form  back  again,  to  pause  for  an  hour  in  the  holy 
place  on  its  way  to  the  burial.  The  church  !  Who 
can  tell  what  it  means  to  you?  It  was  God's  mes- 
senger when  you  were  a  poor  sinner.     'Twas  there 


THE  LESSON  OF  JEHU'S  BOW.  227 

you  found  the  Redeemer.  It  has  comforted  you 
when  you  were  sad  ;  it  has  sanctified  you  when  you 
were  glad;  it  has  nerved  your  soul  anew  when  you 
were  discouraged  ;  it  has  quieted  and  restrained 
your  feverish  unrest  when  you  were  successful. 
The  church  !  Its  hallowed  benediction  has  fallen 
upon  you  from  the  cradle  onward  through  all  these 
years.  Your  hopes  and  fears,  your  joys  and  sorrows, 
have  all  been  hallowed  by  it.  And  whatever  the 
future  holds  for  you,  with  its  graces  of  the  Spirit 
and  its  Easter  hopes  of  everlasting  life,  has  its 
promise  and  its  foretaste  in  this  sacred  place. 


228  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


XX. 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  NAPKIN. 

"And  another  came,  saying,   Lord,  behold,  here  is  thy  pound,  which  I 
have  kept  laid  up  in  a  napkin." — Luke  xix,  20. 

MOST  of  you  remember  the  story  which  leads  up 
to  the  text.  The  nobleman  is  going  into  the 
far  country.  He  selects  ten  servants  for  agents  and 
delivers  to  each  one  of  them  a  certain  amount,  with 
which  he  is  to  trade  and  make  report  of  results 
when  he  shall  come  again.  After  a  while  he  comes 
back,  calls  his  servants  together,  and  demands  an 
accounting.  One  after  another  is  called,  and  they 
report  varying  degrees  of  success.  One  comes  up 
proudly  and  reports  that  he  has  multiplied  the 
original  capital  ten  times.  He  is  applauded  and 
richly  rewarded.  Another  has  acquired  five  times 
what  was  committed  to  him.  He,  too,  receives  the 
praise  of  his  Lord  and  reward  in  proportion  to  his 
labor.  But  finally  there  comes  along  a  man  who 
has  not  dared  to  risk  the  money  that  had  been  in- 
trusted to  him,  and  through  all  the  years  of  his 
master's  absence  has  kept  the  capital  committed  to 
his  care  carefully  secreted.  And  so  he  comes  say- 
ing, "Lord,  behold,  here  is  thy  pound,  which  I 
have  kept  laid  up  in  a  napkin."  The  doom  of  that 
man  is  the  tragedy  of  the  parable.  These  men  are 
intended    as   representative   characters    and,   taken 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  NAPKIN.  229 

together,  form  a  most  interesting  group  of  living 
pictures,  full  of  suggestion  as  to  our  responsibility 
for  the  capital  of  human  life  which  is  committed  to 
our  hands. 

The  great  central  truth  taught  in  the  parable  is 
that  our  lives  as  a  whole,  with  all  their  gifts  of  in- 
telligence and  ability,  of  poAver  to  acquire  and  dis- 
tribute influence,  are  the  capital  which  is  bestowed 
upon  us  by  our  Creator ;  that  if  we  shall  take  this 
capital  into  the  market  place  it  will  gather  other 
values  to  itself,  will  multiply  in  our  hands,  so  that 
after  a  while,  when  the  great  accounting  day  shall 
come,  we  shall  not  only  bring  back  the  original  sum 
with  which  we  were  trusted,  but  shall  have  multi- 
plied it  many  times  by  our  industry  and  devotion. 

We  are  also  taught  very  clearly  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  waste  our  capital  or  to  squander  it 
in  riotous  living  in  order  to  come  under  the  right- 
eous condemnation  of  God.  Simply  to  fail  to  use 
what  has  been  committed  to  us,  to  shirk  the  re- 
sponsibility of  our  manhood  or  womanhood,  and  to 
hide  away  the  gifts  which  have  been  bestowed  upon 
us — this  is  to  sin  against  God's  wisdom  and  good- 
ness and  direct  commandment.  Growth  is  the  law 
of  life ;  development  is  the  order  of  our  being ; 
fruit-bearing  is  the  test  of  our  fidelity. 

Let  us  study  some  of  the  napkins  which  are  in 
common  use  in  our  time  in  covering  up  the  gold  of 
human  life  and  hiding  it  out  of  sight  and  out  of 
usefulness. 

There  is  the  napkin  of  distrust  and  doubt.  This 
man's  distrust  came  from  a  prejudiced,  jaundiced 
idea  of  his  master.     If  he  had  known  his  master 


230  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

better  he  would  have  known  that  he  could  forgive 
anything  easier  than  indolence.  So,  if  you  ask  me 
what  a  man  shall  do  if  he  has  doubts  about 
Christianity  I  say,  Become  better  acquainted  with 
Jesus  Christ.  Christianity  is  a  personal  system.  It 
clings  about  Jesus  Christ.  No  man  can  espouse 
Christianity  with  great  zest  until  he  comes  into  close 
fellowship  with  Jesus.  Christ  disarms  the  most 
prejudiced  man  who  studies  carefully  his  character 
and  life.  The  indifferent  Lew  Wallace  becomes 
the  reverent  disciple  through  the  studies  necessary 
to  write  Ben-Hur.  Leckey,  the  rationalist,  is  com- 
pelled to  say  that  Christianity  presented  **  to  the 
world  an  ideal  character,  which,  through  all  the 
changes  of  eighteen  centuries,  has  filled  the  hearts 
of  men  with  an  impassioned  love ;  has  shown  itself 
capable  of  acting  on  all  ages,  nations,  tempera- 
ments, and  condition ;  has  been,  not  only  the 
highest  pattern  of  virtue,  but  the  strongest  in- 
centive to  its  practice ;  and  has  exerted  so  deep  an 
influence  that  it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  simple 
record  of  three  short  years  of  active  life  has  done 
more  to  regenerate  and  soften  mankind  than  all  the 
disquisitions  of  philosophers  and  all  the  exhorta- 
tions of  moralists."  Thomas  doubted  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Christ,  but  in  his  presence  was  convinced 
of  his  divine  lordship.  And  Jesus  remarked  upon 
his  confession  of  him,  "  Blessed  are  they  that  have 
not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed."  And  multitudes 
every  day  who  draw  near  to  Christ  by  repentance 
and  faith  are  coming  into  that  blessedness  and  en- 
tering into  holy  communion  and  feUowship  with 
him. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  NAPKIN.  231 

This  napkin  of  distrust  and  doubt  always  leads  to 
a  second  covering,  akin  to  itself,  or  rather  a  result- 
ant— hopelessness.  The  inevitable  tendency  of  sin 
is  to  drive  the  sinning  soul  to  hopelessness  and  de- 
spair. The  man  who  has  lost  faith  in  his  power  to 
do  right  and  in  the  presence  of  God  to  help  him  is 
naturally  hopeless  for  the  race  and  for  himself.  Sin 
not  only  disturbs  the  conscience,  but  it  robs  the 
heart  of  courage  and  destroys  the  light  of  hope. 
One  of  the  saddest  things  in  the  world  is  the  hope- 
lessness of  it.  Men  are  dj/ing  all  about  us  because 
of  broken  hearts.  Men  are  committing  suicide  be- 
cause they  are  in  despair.  The  poor  materialism  of 
our  time  has  no  hope  for  men;  and  the  heart,  con- 
scious of  Its  own  sin  and  unworthiness,  breaks 
without  hope.  Christ  came  into  the  world,  not  to 
condemn  the  world,  but  that  the  world  through  him 
might  be  saved. 

The  Gospel  message  comes  to  sinners  as  a  life- 
boat comes  to  the  poor  shipwrecked  sailors  in  the 
midst  of  the  storm.  How  bright  this  old  Bible  is 
with  lighthouses  of  hope !  Listen  to  some  of 
them  :  "  Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul  ?  and 
why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  ?  Hope  thou  in 
God  :  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him,  who  Is  the  health 
of  my  countenance,  and  my  God."  ''  We  are  saved 
by  hope:  but  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope:  for 
what  a  man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for  ?  " 
"  The  God  of  hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in 
believing,  that  ye  may  abound  in  hope,  through  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  "  Looking  for  that 
blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  appearing  of  the 
great   God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."     **  We 


232  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

give  thanks  to  God  and  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ,  ...  for  the  hope  which  is  laid  up  for 
you  in  heaven."  "To  whom  God  would  make 
known  what  is  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mys- 
tery among  the  Gentiles ;  which  is  Christ  in  you, 
the  hope  of  glory."  "Which  hope  we  have  as  an 
anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and  steadfast,  and 
which  entereth  into  that  within  the  veil." 

But  some  troubled,  perplexed  soul,  half  smothered 
under  the  napkin  of  distrust  and  despair,  says,  "  It 
is  well  enough  to  quote  hopeful  scriptures  to  people 
Vv'ho  are  looking  out  on  jo}'ous  futures  ;  but  mine 
looks  so  black."  Yes,  black  to  you,  no  doubt, 
when  you  are  trying  to  look  at  it  through  a  nap- 
kin ;  but  bright  enough  if  you  will  look  at  it 
through  the  lens  of  God's  promise.  Our  good 
neighbor.  Dr.  Cuyler,  tells  about  a  painting  called 
"Cloudland,"  which  he  saw  in  one  of  the  German 
picture  galleries.  It  hangs  at  the  end  of  a  long 
gallery  and,  at  first  sight,  looks  like  a  huge,  repul- 
sive daub  of  confused  color,  without  form  or  come- 
liness. As  you  walk  toward  it,  however,  the  pic- 
ture begins  to  take  shape.  It  proves  to  be  a  mass 
of  exquisite  little  cherub  faces,  like  those  at  the 
head  of  the  canvas  in  Raphael's  "  Madonna  di  San 
Sisto."  When  you  come  close  to  the  picture  you 
see  an  innumerable  company  of  little  angels  and 
cherubim.  How  often  a  soul,  frightened  by  trial, 
sees  nothing  but  a  confused  and  repulsive  mass  of 
broken  expectations  and  crushed  hopes !  But  if 
that  soul,  instead  of  fleeing  away  into  unbelief  and 
despair,  would  only  come  close  to  God  it  would 
soon  discover  that  the  cloud  was  full  of  angels  of 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  NAPKIN.  233 

mercy.  In  one  cherub  face  it  would  see,  ''  Whom 
the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth."  Another  angel 
would  say,  "  All  things  Avork  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God."  And  from  still  another 
sweet  face  the  heavenly  benediction  would  come, 
''  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled  :  ye  believe  in 
God,  believe  also  in  me.  In  my  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions,  .  .  .  Where  I  am,  there  ye  shall 
be  also." 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  pictures  of  courage  and 
sweetness  under  trying  circumstances  is  presented 
in  a  little  book,  published  some  three  or  four  years 
since,  entitled  A  Little  White  SJiadozv.  This  strik- 
ing title  was  suggested  by  a  remark  made  by  an  art- 
ist who  was  looking  out  one  day  from  the  heights  of 
an  island  in  one  of  the  beautiful  bays  on  the  coast  of 
the  Mediterranean  not  far  from  Naples.  The  bay 
was  lying  below  under  the  intense,  white  light  of  the 
midday  sun,  and  the  artist  remarked,  "  Even  the 
shadows  are  white  at  this  hour  of  the  day."  The 
story  goes  on  to  describe  a  woman  whose  name  in 
the  little  town  is  on  everybody's  lips,  but  whose  fig- 
ure is  never  seen  on  any  of  the  island  roads. 
Madame  Teresa  never  comes  down  the  beautiful 
paths,  because  up  in  a  villa  on  the  rocks,  surrounded 
by  an  uninclosed  rose  garden,  she  has  been  shut  up 
within  four  walls  these  thirty  years,  never  a 
moment  without  pain  ;  but  whoever  goes  to  her 
room,  full  of  birds  and  flowers  and  portraits,  finds 
nothing  there  but  courage,  good  cheer,  and  kindli- 
ness. Day  by  day  and  year  by  year  the  little 
madame  has  lain  on  her  couch,  looking  out  of  her 
window  upon  the  world  from  which  she  is  shut  off; 


234  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

always  serene,  full  of  gentleness,  and  abounding  in 
good  works.  No  one  on  the  island  seems  to  lead 
so  active  a  life  as  she,  so  constantly  do  her  thoughts 
travel  to  every  household,  so  accurate  is  her  knowl- 
edge of  everyone's  needs,  so  constant  is  her  tact 
and  sympathy,  so  varied  and  delicate  are  her  benefi- 
cences and  service.  Looking  out  one  day  at  twi- 
light, when  some  one  suggested  that  lights  should 
be  brought,  Madame  Teresa  laughed  and  said  that 
she  was  never  alone.  "  It  is  always  noon  with  me  ; 
when  shadows  come  and  I  do  not  like  them  I 
always  think  of  bright  lights ;  "  and  immediately 
there  flashed  into  the  mind  of  the  visitor  the  phrase 
of  the  artist— "A  little  white  shadov/."  At  the 
elevation  of  faith  and  resignation  which  Madame 
Teresa  had  reached  even  the  shadows  were  white. 

How  blessed  is  the  influence  and  how  inspiring 
the  teaching  of  such  a  life  !  How  easy  it  would 
have  been  for  her  to  hide  away  her  talent  in  a  nap- 
kin and  excuse  herself  for  doing  so.  But  how  in- 
finitely wiser  for  her  to  refuse  to  permit  herself  to 
become  idle  or  morbid  and  sad.  She  simply 
changed  the  class  of  her  interests.  If  she  could  not 
invest  her  pound  any  longer  in  one  way  she  put  it 
out  to  interest  among  another  circle  of  exchangers. 
Having  lost  the  power  of  being  of  service  longer 
with  hands  and  feet,  she  cultivated  with  more 
earnestness  the  gift  of  thoughtfulness,  the  power  of 
sympathetic  fellowship,  and  the  sweetness  of  spirit 
which  enabled  her  to  act  through  others.  Let  us 
learn  the  lesson  of  this  sweet  life.  When  we  can 
no  longer  do  one  thing  well  let  us  seek  out  what  is 
left,  let  us  strengthen  those  things  which  remain. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  NAPKIN.  235 

Then  there  is  the  napkin  of  selfishness.  Selfish- 
ness is  a  stem  around  which  many  sins  and  vices 
cluster.  The  idolatry  of  self  is  the  heaviest  napkin 
that  ever  shut  out  the  light  of  heaven  from  deluded 
human  eyes.  This  napkin  usually  finds  its  most 
common  illustration  in  worldliness.  The  old  par- 
able of  the  sower  which  I  read  for  our  Scripture 
lesson  is  illustrated  over  and  over  again.  The  soil 
is  rich,  the  seed  is  good,  the  promise  of  youth  is 
splendid ;  but  the  thorns  choke  it  out.  Worldli- 
ness chokes  the  life  out  of  many  a  soul.  And  what 
a  miserable  exchange  it  is  !  The  story  is  told  of  a 
certain  duke  who  had  a  passion  for  costly  diamonds. 
His  house  resembled  a  castle,  rather  than  a  man- 
sion, and  it  was  surrounded  with  a  lofty  wall  over 
which  no  one  could  climb  without  giving  an  alarm. 
His  treasure  was  kept  in  a  safe  let  into  the  wall  in 
his  bedroom,  so  that  it  could  not  be  reached  with- 
out first  awaking  or  murdering  the  owner ;  the  safe 
was  so  constructed  that  it  could  not  be  forced  with- 
out discharging  four  guns  and  setting  an  alarm  bell 
ringing  in  every  room.  His  bedroom,  like  a  prison- 
er's cell,  had  but  one  small  window ;  and  the  bolt 
and  lock  of  the  massive  door  were  of  the  stoutest 
iron.  In  addition  to  these  precautions,  a  case  con- 
taining twelve  loaded  revolvers  stood  beside  his 
bed.  Instead  of  crying  out,  like  the  psalmist,  ''  The 
Lord  is  the  strength  of  my  life  ;  of  whom  shall  I 
be  afraid?"  he  might  have  said,  "  Diamonds  are  my 
portion  ;  therefore  do  I  fear." 

Let  us  take  off  the  napkin  of  worldliness  and 
bring  our  capital  out  into  the  market  place  of  the 
world's   need.     Possibly    I    am    speaking   to    some 


236  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

worldly-minded  father  or  mother.  If  so,  let  me  Im- 
press upon  you  the  awful  tragedy  that  may  come 
from  the  wrapping  up  of  the  spiritual  possibilities 
of  your  home  in  any  napkin  of  the  world's  making. 
No  one  can  overestimate  the  blessed  influence  of 
simple,  straightforward  Christianity  in  the  home. 
A  man  who  has  been  of  great  value  and  blessing  to 
the  world  relates  that,  on  one  of  his  visits  to  his 
old  home  years  after  he  had  left  it,  he  was  put  to 
sleep  in  the  spare  chamber.  In  the  morning  he 
opened  the  closet  door,  and  a  scene  met  his  gaze 
which  brought  the  tears  to  his  e3'es  in  a  moment. 
There,  in  the  center  of  the  closet,  stood  a  chair,  and 
before  that  chair  was  a  cushion  in  which  there  were 
deep  prints,  where  some  one,  evidently,  was  accus- 
tomed to  kneel  in  secret  worship.  It  all  flashed 
over  him  in  an  instant.  It  was  the  secret  sanctu- 
ary of  his  own  blessed  mother,  who  had  prayed  all 
her  ten  children  into  the  kingdom.  What  a  hal- 
lowed spot  it  seemed  to  him  !  A  thrill  of  sacred 
awe  came  over  him,  and  a  voice  almost  seemed  to 
say,  as  it  did  to  Moses  at  the  burning  bush,  "  Put 
off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  where- 
on thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  O  mother,  if 
you  would  be  remembered  by  your  children  with  a 
benediction  like  that  you  must  begin  at  once. 
There  is  no  time  in  this  short  life  to  be  lost.  A 
lovely  old  lady  lay  in  a  casket,  ready  for  burial. '  A 
niece,  looking  upon  the  placid  features,  remarked, 
"  I  hope  I  shall  have  as  beautiful  an  old  age  as  Aunt 
Catherine."  To  which  a  sister  made  wise  reply,  *'  It 
is  none  too  soon  to  begin." 

But  I  dare  not  close   our  study  without  calling 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  NAPKIN.  237 

your  attention  faithfully  to  the  tragic  ending  of  our 
text.  The  tragedy  is  here,  and  it  is  in  real  life  as 
well.  Our  text  will  not  let  us  forget  that  we  hold 
our  destiny,  after  all,  in  our  own  hands.  God  will 
not  ruthlessly  break  down  our  wills.  He  will  call 
after  us  ;  he  will  warn  us  through  the  conscience  ; 
he  will  impress  us  by  the  still,  small  voice  ;  he  will 
send  us  the  Bible  and  the  ministry  of  reconciliation  ; 
he  will  call  us  by  his  providences,  wrought  out  in 
joy  and  grief;  but  we  also  have  something  to  do. 
We  ourselves  must  take  off  the  unworthy  napkin. 
We  must  rouse  ourselves  to  action,  to  a  sense  of  our 
accountability  to  God,  and  faithfully,  by  his  help, 
fulfill  the  mission  he  has  given  to  us.  If  we  do  not, 
if  we  reject  all,  if  we  allow  our  pound,  committed 
to  us,  to  remain  wrapped  up  in  distrust  or  selfish- 
ness or  worldliness  or  sin  of  any  kind,  the  tragedy 
comes  at  last.  The  pound  is  taken  from  us,  and, 
speechless  and  undone,  we  are  cast  out  in  sorrow 
and  despair. 
16 


238  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 


XXI. 

A   HAUNTED   SOUL. 

"  When  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone  out  of  a  man,  he  walketh  through 
dry  places,  seeking  rest,  and  findeth  none.  Then  he  saith,  I  will  return 
into  my  house  from  whence  I  came  out ;  and  when  he  is  come,  he  find- 
eth it  empty,  swept,  and  garnished.  Then  goeth  he,  and  taketh  with 
himself  seven  other  spirits  more  wicked  than  himself,  and  they  enter  in 
and  dwell  there  :  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first." — 
Matt,  xii,  43-45- 

WHO  of  us  has  not  shivered  at-  weird  stories  of 
haunted  houses — superstitious  legends  of 
how  the  ghosts  of  some  old  murder-making  feud  or 
the  victims  of  some  cruel  injustice  come  back  again 
to  make  queer  noises  and  strange  lights  and  disturb 
the  slumber  and  the  peace  of  later  dwellers  in  what 
was  once  the  theater  of  their  own  exploits?  But 
we  are  coming  at  this  time  to  the  study  of  a  haunted 
house  which  does  not  rest  for  its  interest  upon 
either  superstition  or  legend,  or  even  divine  revela- 
tion ;  we  are  to  study  what  is  patent  to  the  obser- 
vation and  intelligence  of  every  one  of  us. 

The  scripture  we  are  studying  undoubtedly  had 
special  reference  to  the  very  people  to  whom  Christ 
was  speaking ;  but  it  is  a  picture  of  universal  appli- 
cation and  is  illustrated  as  frequently  to-day  as  in 
any  time  in  the  past.  It  is  put  before  us  in  one  of 
those  straightforward  and  interesting  figures  which 
Christ  so  often  uses.  An  evil  spirit  possesses  a 
house,  which  in  the  last  sentence  of  our  text  Christ 


A  HAUNTED  SOUL.  239 

explains  very  clearly  to  be  a  human  soul.  By  some 
power — it  may  be  the  conscience  aroused  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  it  may  be  some  revelation  of  diviner 
and  better  things  possible  for  the  soul,  it  may  be 
some  devout  and  earnest  pleading  of  godly  friends — 
for  some  reason  the  man  rouses  all  that  is  within 
him  and  expels  the  evil  spirit.  Cast  out,  the  evil 
spirit  seeks  rest,  hunts  for  a  home,  lurks  about  for 
a  while  in  desert  places,  finds  no  rest,  and  comes 
back  again  to  see  what  has  transpired  in  his  ab- 
sence. And  when  he  comes  back,  doubtless  ex- 
pecting to  find  the  house  tenanted  and  strongly 
guarded  and  some  new  dweller  possessing  all  the 
rooms  and  appointments  of  the  soul,  the  evil  spirit 
finds,  with  devilish  joy  and,  no  doubt,  at  the  same 
time  with  astonishment,  that  the  house  is  empty. 
There  is  no  tenant  there,  no  light  in  the  window 
no  music  from  the  piano,  no  fire  in  the  kitchen,  no 
indication  of  life  anywhere;  but,  instead,  the  house 
is  swept  and  furnished,  garnished  and  decorated,  as 
if  in  invitation  to  some  energetic  personality  to 
come  and  take  possession  and  intrench  himself  and 
be  at  home.  With  alacrity  the  exiled  spirit  accepts 
the  invitation  ;  but,  having  learned  cunning  through 
past  experience,  he  does  not  trust  himself  alone, 
lest  he  be  again  overthrown,  but  goes  and  invites 
seven  other  more  bold  and  impudent  and  vicious 
spirits  than  himself,  and  the  eight  come  back  and 
enter  in  and  hold  revel  in  that  man's  soul.  And  we 
can  understand  why  Jesus  says,  "  The  last  state  of 
that  man  is  worse  than  the  first." 

Dr.  Henry  Melville,  the  great   English  preacher, 
interprets  this  first  evil  spirit  to  be  that  ruling  evil 


240  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

passion  or  master  disposition  to  sin  which  tempts 
every  soul.  He  declares  that  every  individual 
among  us  is  tempted  by  nature  to  some  one  kind  of 
sin,  which,  according  to  St.  Paul's  expression,  is 
"the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us;"  that  the 
greatest  difficulty  which  Christianity  encounters  in 
our  salvation  is  in  grappling  with  the  master  passion, 
in  the  overcoming  of  the  besetting  sin,  whether  it 
be  a  sin  of  the  flesh  or  a  sin  of  the  intellect ;  and 
that  the  battle  royal  in  every  one  of  our  lives  be- 
tween good  and  evil  will  be  at  that  one  weak  point 
in  our  nature.  Thus,  if  a  voluptuous  man  shall  re- 
solve to  cease  his  sin  and  lead  a  pure  life  his  hard- 
est after  task  will  be  in  resisting  the  lust  of  the  flesh ; 
while  the  proud  man  or  the  man  of  envious  dispo- 
sition will  find  that  his  main  battle  must  be  waged 
with  pride  or  with  envy.  And  the  devil,  who  once 
had  undisputed  possession  of  the  man  and  who 
knows,  therefore,  the  quarter  in  which  he  is  most 
assailable,  will  direct  his  temptations  against  the 
vulnerable  point  and  will  persistently  seek  to  make 
a  breach  where  he  once  held  the  broadest  highway. 
To  my  mind  the  great  lesson  we  have  to  study  at 
this  time  is  this :  that  an  empty  life  is  always 
in  danger,  that  you  have  done  a  very  small  thing 
when  you  have  gotten  a  man  to  cease  sinning  only, 
and  that  you  have  no  assurance  whatever  that  any 
reformation  will  be  lasting  unless  you  have  brought 
in  a  new  tenant  to  take  possession  of  the  man's 
soul.  And,  if  it  did  last,  what  a  poor,  meaningless 
thing  a  human  life  is  that  is  not  possessed  by  any 
supreme  and  holy  purpose  for  good  !  An  empty 
life  is  itself  a  sinful  life.     All  you  have  to  do  to  de- 


A  HAUNTED  SOUL.  241 

stroy  the  burrs  of  a  flour  mill  is  to  let  it  run  empty 
without  any  grist.  You  and  I  are  mills  made  that 
way.  We  can  never  run  when  empty  without  dis- 
aster. Every  little  while  you  see  people  who 
have  run  empty,  intellectually  and  spiritually,  until 
they  are  like  two  worn-out  old  millstones  whetting 
against  each  other  all  the  time,  wearing  out  them- 
selves and  the  church.  They  make  famous  prayer 
meeting  bores  and  cranks  that  can  dry  up  the 
spirituality  of  almost  any  meeting  if  they  have  half 
a  chance.  And  the  worst  of  it  is  that  they  often 
claim  to  have  a  monopoly  of  the  spirituality  of  the 
church ;  but  somehow  no  flour  comes  out  of  their 
mill,  and  no  souls  are  won  to  Christ  by  them.  In 
politics  they  call  them  political  hacks,  because  they 
have  had  no  great  load  of  political  or  statesmanlike 
truth  of  their  own  to  express  and  carry  forward, 
but,  like  a  public  hack,  back  themselves  up  to 
everything  that  offers  on  the  street  of  political  life. 

I  repeat  it,  that  an  empty  life  is  always  danger- 
ous. It  is  not  only  of  no  value,  but  it  is  ready  for 
anybody  to  move  in.  An  empty  house  gets  the 
windows  knocked  out  by  the  hoodlums,  or  the 
tramps  move  in  and  defile  it  and  do  outrage  there. 
So  an  empty  heart  is  a  temptation  to  every  lawless 
evil  spirit  to  enter  in  and  hold  revel.  I  have 
no  doubt  at  all  that  a  large  part  of  the  shameful 
scandals  which  end  in  divorce  and  murder  and  sui- 
cide among  some  of  the  richest  of  society's  so-called 
leaders  in  our  time  come  from  the  very  idleness  and 
emptiness  and  uselessness  of  their  lives. 

Bishop  Henry  C.  Potter,  of  New  York,  preach- 
ing on  this   subject  some  time  ago,  said  that,    as 


242  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

wealth  increased  and  people  came  to  live  more  lux- 
uriously and  there  came  to  be  a  large  number  of 
persons,  both  men  and  women,  who  had  but  little 
to  do,  a  condition  of  affairs  was  produced  which 
would  naturally  breed  every  imaginable  evil  that  can 
afflict  society  or  ruin  the  individual  soul.  Let 
wealth  and  luxury  and  indolence  grow  together,  and 
you  have  a  nest  in  which  a  whole  brood  of  vices 
will  soon  and  swiftly  be  hatched.  How  our  daily 
papers  make  us  blush  sometimes  at  the  hideous 
illustrations  of  the  truth  of  this.  Here  is  a  home 
clouded  or  shattered  by  the  shame  of  a  wretched 
intrigue  ;  another,  that  is  stung  and  Vvounded  by  the 
cruelty  of  a  causeless  calummy  ;  and  still  another, 
dishonored  and  disbanded  by  foolish  and  criminal 
extravagance.  And  you  can  find  the  secret  of 
every  one  of  them  in  the  emptiness  and  idleness  of 
the  circle  in  which  they,  like  poor  moths,  have 
burned  themselves  to  death.  Much  of  the  crime 
and  baseness  of  our  time,  we  would  find  if  we  could 
trace  it  back  to  itsbeginning,  was  conceived  because 
life  was  *'  empty,  swept,  and  garnished,"  and  because 
there  had  entered — just  because  it  was  so  empty, 
its  hands  so  idle  and  unemployed,  its  heart  so  unin- 
terested and  indifferent — a  whole  legion  of  devils 
to  drag  it  down  to  hell. 

Only  this  past  week  the  collector  of  customs  of 
New  York  city,  in  published  interviews,  declares 
that  many  of  the  leading  women  of  the  richest  and 
most  noted  society  of  New  York  city  are  the  most 
ready  to  perjure  themselves  in  order  to  bring  in  con- 
traband goods  for  their  neighbors.  A  case  is  given 
of  a  young  woman,  very  prominent   in  the  social 


A  HAUNTED  SOUL.  243 

world,  about  whom  the  customhouse  officials  were 
informed  by  cable  that  she  was  on  her  way  home 
with  many  rich  gowns  and  valuable  articles  which 
were  dutiable  and  which  friends  had  asked  her  to 
bring  in  order  that  they  might  be  obtained  minus 
the  duty.  The  officer  in  charge  was  informed  of  the 
facts  and  told  to  question  her  very  severely  and  give 
her  every  possible  chance  to  tell  the  truth.  When 
the  steamer  arrived  the  officer  met  the  woman  and 
received  her  declaration.  Not  a  single  article  was 
declared.  He  handed  it  back  to  her  and  requested 
her  earnestly  to  go  over  in  her  mind  everything  that 
her  trunks  contained. 

"  Are  you  positively  sure  that  everything  in  it  is 
for  your  personal  use?"  he  asked.  The  woman  was 
indignant.  '*  Of  course  it  is.  How  dare  you  ask 
me  such  a  question?"  ''Well,"  he  replied,  ''you 
may  keep  this  declaration  until  I  return."  In  a  few 
moments  the  officer  again  put  the  formal  questions 
to  her  more  earnestly  than  before. 

This  time  the  young  woman  was  grieved.  "  I 
shall  report  this  to  the  officials,"  she  exclaimed. 
"  They  have  already  reported  it  to  me,"  the  officer 
replied.  That  was  too  much  for  her,  and  she  broke 
down  and  confessed.  The  officer  collected  six  hun- 
dred dollars  duty  on  the  contents  of  her  trunk. 

Now  that  young  woman  was  only  the  fruit  on  the 
tree.  She  was  an  apple  of  Sodom,  grown  on  the 
tree  of  modern  fashionable  society,  where  to  eat  and 
to  drink,  to  keep  oneself  sleek  and  fat  and  well 
groomed,  and  to  dress  and  array  the  body  are  the 
chief  and  only  aims  in  human  life.  Such  a  life  has 
always  produced  crime  and  wickedness  and  corrup- 


244  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

tlon — everywhere,  in  every  age;  and  the  laws  of 
human  nature  have  not  changed  or  ceased  to  oper- 
ate to-day. 

"  But,"  you  say,  "  you  are  shooting  wide  of  the 
mark  now ;  that  does  not  appeal  to  me.  I  have  to 
work  early  and  late.  My  hands  are  full  enough, 
surely."  Yes,  your  hands  may  be  ;  but  what  about 
your  soul  ?  Who  possesses  it  ?  Who  is  supreme 
master  there  ?  ''  Well,'  *  one  says,  "  I  have  long  since 
ceased  to  follow  the  besetting  sin  of  my  youth,  and 
I  am  determined,  especially  as  this  new  37ear  comes 
in,  to  refrain  from  everything  that  seems  wrong  to 
me.  Surely  you  can't  ask  anything  better  than 
that."  Ah,  but  God  does  ask  something  better 
than  that  of  you,  and  the  requirements  of  your  own 
nature  ask  something  better  than  that.  Do  you 
remember  the  Pharisee  and  the  publican  that  went 
up  into  the  temple  to  pray,  and  the  Pharisee  lifted 
his  face  toward  heaven  and  said,  ''  O  Lord,  I  thank 
thee  I  am  not  like  some  other  people.  I  pay  tithes 
of  all  I  possess ;  that  is,  I  pay  my  taxes — and  that 
is  a  great  deal  better  than  many  people  do  nowa- 
days— and  I  live  an  exceedingly  respectable  life.  I 
thank  thee  that  I  am  so  much  better  than  this  mis- 
erable publican  here."  And  yet  that  man  did  not 
go  down  justified  from  the  temple.  What  was  the 
trouble  ?  Why,  taken  at  his  own  estimate,  he  had 
only  an  empty  house,  swept  and  garnished  indeed  ; 
but  no  good  and  noble  spirit  possessed  him. 

O  brothers  and  sisters,  I  thank  God  that  I  have 
something  better  than  a  mere  haunted  house  to 
preach  to  you !  Here  it  is  that  our  holy  Christianity 
rises  infinitely  above  all  the  philosophies  and  formal 


A  HAUNTED  SOUL.  245 

moralities  of  the  world.  You  have  heard  sermons 
about  conversion  ;  here  is  what  it  means,  plainly 
and  simply,  the  old  tenant  is  cast  out,  with  all  his 
vicious  friends  and  unholy  visitors ;  and  a  new  ten- 
ant comes  in  and  dwells  there,  to  fill  the  old  house 
full  of  the  happy  strains  of  a  new  music,  to  light 
the  windows  with  a  new  glow  that  shines  from 
heaven,  Instead  of  from  the  pit,  to  bring  new  guests 
into  the  rooms  that  have  been  so  long  defiled  and 
outraged.  Around  that  broad  hearthstone  of  the 
soul,  where  pride  and  envy  and  hatred,  or  lust  and 
sensuality,  have  held  revel,  lo,  now  comes  the  Master, 
with  his  friends — love  and  peace  and  gentleness  and 
meekness  and  joy  and  goodness — to  hold  their 
blessed  fellowship.  They  hold  council  day  by  day 
together,  not  only  how  they  may  strengthen  the 
old  house  against  attack,  not  only  how  they  may 
make  the  locks  sure  and  the  gate  latch  hold,  or  the 
watch  dogs  alert,  or  the  policemen  honest ;  ah,  no ! 
a  more  blessed  thing  than  that — they  spend  those 
hours  of  communion,  first,  in  devising  means  by 
which  they  may  make  the  old  house  new,  by  which 
they  may  repair  the  damage  the  wicked  revelers  have 
wrought  in  it,  how  they  may  make  it  again  a  thing 
of  beauty  and  gladness,  a  joy  to  all  that  shall  be- 
hold it,  and  a  welcome  place  for  every  rightful  guest. 
Not  only  so,  but  in  those  hours  of  communion  they 
study  how  they  may  make  this  new  temple  of  the 
living  God  a  place  of  encouragement  for  the  weary, 
of  refreshment  for  those  who  are  discouraged,  a  bea- 
con light  for  the  storm-tossed  mariner,  a  light  amid 
the  world's  darkness  that  cannot  be  hid.  It  is  to 
this  we  call  you. 


246  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

And  if  there  be  any  here  who  have,  some  time, 
known  something  of  this  sweet  experience,  but 
whose  coldness  or  indifference  has  driven  out  the 
heavenly  tenants,  I  beg  of  him  to  call  them  back 
now.  It  is  always  a  sad  thing  to  find  that  a  man's 
Christian  testimony  is  only  a  reminiscence  of  by- 
gone joys,  while,  in  the  meantimiC,  the  heart  has 
grown  selfish  and  proud.  Present  experience  is, 
after  all,  the  test  of  our  relation  to  God,  and  the 
measure  of  our  real  usefulness.  The  story  is  told 
of  a  farmer  who  attended  a  sale  of  horses  and  was 
shown  one  of  which  the  owner  said,  ''  This  has  been 
a  splendid  roadster."  Then  another  was  brought 
out,  and  of  him  it  was  said,  ''  He  will  make  a  good 
worker  when  he  is  grown."  But  the  old  farmer  im- 
patiently exclaimed,  "  I  don't  want  to  see  your 
'  have  beens  '  or  '  will  bes  ;  '  bring  out  something 
that  is  !  "  So,  in  seeking  after  those  who  are  to 
help  bring  about  the  kingdom  of  God  and  win  souls 
to  Christ,  we  want  those  who  are  now  on  fire  with  a 
holy  passion  for  souls,  who  are  now  letting  their 
light  shine  so  that  all  may  see  their  good  works  and 
glorify  God. 

In  Australia  there  are  some  plants  that  grow  in 
the  water  and  are  so  full  of  light  at  night  that  they 
give  the  impression  of  little  islands  on  fire,  and  a 
naturalist  says  that  he  hung  some  specimens  of  this 
plant  up  in  his  sitting  room  to  dry,  and  for  several 
nights  they  served  as  a  light  to  read  by  ;  but  he 
remarks  significantly  that  "the  luminosity  disap- 
peared as  the  plant  dried  up."  So  the  power  of  a 
Christian  to  give  light  disappears  as  he  dries  up,  as 
he  himself  is  taken   away   from   the   water  of  life. 


A  HAUNTED  SOUL.  247 

Are  there  fathers  and  mothers  in  this  church  and 
congregation  whose  spiritual  vitaUty  has  so  dried 
up  that  they  no  longer  give  the  light  of  life  to  their 
children  ?  Are  there  professed  Christian  men  here 
who  go  about  in  their  business  and  no  man  knows 
that  they  are  Christians,  and  whose  business  asso- 
ciates would  be  astonished  if  they  knew  them  to  be 
professed  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  O, 
backslider,  come  back  to  God  ! 

And  so  to  everyone  here  who  is  not  a  Christian, 
in  that  truest  and  noblest  sense  which  means  the 
incarnation  of  Christ's  spirit  in  your  heart  and  life, 
I  come  with  my  message.  All  your  good  resolu- 
tions, your  pledges  of  reform,  your  determination 
to  live  a  better  life  will  be  worse  than  idle  unless 
you  yield  your  heart  up  to  the  God  who  made  it 
and  to  the  loving  service  of  the  Christ  who  died  to 
redeem  you.  Recall  the  picture  we  are  studying. 
Here  was  a  man  who  made  a  good  resolution,  who 
emptied  his  life  for  the  time  of  its  sin,  who  swept 
it  and  garnished  it,  possibly  with  education  and  po- 
lite manners  and  refinement  and  all  that  ;  but  the 
proper  sign  to  put  up  over  its  door  was,  "  Furnished 
rooms  to  let."  Is  that  your  condition  to-night,  with 
all  the  opportunities  you  have  had  ?  How  many 
sweepers  God  has  had  at  work  to  keep  your  heart 
swept  !  Your  mother's  prayers  and  all  her  tender 
love  and  pleading,  all  the  associations  of  the  church 
and  Sunday  school,  the  sermons  that  have  aroused 
your  conscience — all  these  may  have  kept  your 
heart  swept  for  a  time  from  the  greater  sins.  You 
have  not  been  without  decoration,  either.  Schools, 
music,   reading,  and   art   have  furnished   you   with 


248  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

some  garnishment  of  thought.  But  what  a  hollow 
mockery  it  all  is  if  over  your  heart's  doorway  the 
sign  stands,  "  To  let,  furnished  rooms ;  a  heart  that 
can  love  and  hate,  that  can  hope  and  fear,  an  ob- 
servatory with  a  telescope  through  which  faith 
might  view  the  heavens,  an  immortal  spirit  gather- 
ing tenants  for  eternity — to  let  !  "  Ah,  it  will  not 
be  to  let  long,  for  outside  the  devil  lurks  and  watches 
and  waits.  He  bides  his  time.  Seven  other  devils 
lurk  with  him.  Some  day  will  come  when  the  door 
is  not  guarded,  and  they  will  enter  in,  and  the  last 
state  of  your  heart  will  be  worse  than  the  first. 

But,  blessed  be  God,  the  devil  is  not  the  only 
tenant  that  haunts  a  human  soul.  Jesus  says,  **  Be- 
hold I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock :  if  any  man 
hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to 
him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me.  To 
him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in 
my  throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set 
down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne.  He  that  hatl 
an  ear,  let  him  hear." 


GOLDEN  VIALS  FULL  OF  ODORS.  249 


XXII. 

HEAVEN'S  PERFUME— GOLDEN  VIALS  FULL  OF 
ODORS. 

"  Golden  vials  full  of  odors,  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints." — Rev,  v,  8. 


L 


ONGFELLOW    has    sung    to    us   the    quaint, 
sweet  story  of  Sandalphon,  the  angel  of  prayer: 

"  Have  you  read  in  the  Talmud  of  old, 
In  the  legends  the  Rabbins  have  told 

Of  the  limitless  realms  of  the  air. 
Have  you  read  it — the  marvelous  story 
Of  Sandalphon,  the  angel  of  glory, 

Sandalphon,  the  angel  of  prayer  ? 

"  How,  erect,  at  the  outermost  gates 
Of  the  city  celestial  he  waits, 

With  his  feet  on  the  ladder  of  light. 
That,  crowded  with  angels  unnumbered, 
By  Jacob  was  seen,  as  he  slumbered 

Alone  in  the  desert  at  night }  " 

And  the  singer  goes  on  to  tell  us  how  Sandalphon 

"  stands  listening  breathless 
To  sounds  that  ascend  from  below ; 

"From  the  spirits  on  earth  that  adore. 
From  the  souls  that  entreat  and  implore 

In  the  fervor  and  passion  of  prayer  ; 
From  the  hearts  that  are  broken  with  losses, 
And  weary  with  dragging  the  crosses 

Too  heavy  for  mortals  to  bear. 


250  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

"  And  he  gathers  the  prayers  as  he  stands, 
And  they  change  mto  flowers  in  his  hands, 

Into  garlands  of  purple  and  red  ; 
And  beneath  the  great  arch  of  the  portal, 
Through  the  streets  of  the  city  immortal 

Is  wafted  the  fragrance  they  shed." 

And  the  writer  of  our  text  saw  again  when  an  angel 
"  came  and  stood  at  the  altar,  having  a  golden  cen- 
ser;  and  there  was  given  unto  him  much  incense, 
that  he  should  offer  it  with  the  prayers  of  all  saints 
upon  the  golden  altar  which  was  before  the  throne. 
And  the  smoke  of  the  incense,  which  came  with  the 
prayers  of  the  saints,  ascended  up  before  God  out 
of  the  angel's  hand." 

Such  revelations,  however  figurative  you  may  re- 
gard them,  must,  at  least,  be  held  to  indicate  God's 
regard  for  the  prayers  of  his  reverent,  trusting  chil- 
dren. There  are  a  hundred  questions  you  might 
ask  me  about  the  philosophy  of  prayer  and  about 
the  methods  of  God's  response  to  it  which  I  would 
not  be  able  to  answer  you  ;  but  I  have  no  more 
doubt  about  it  as  a  divinely  ordered  channel  of 
communication  between  the  heart  of  God  and  the 
hearts  of  his  children  than  I  have  of  the  existence 
of  the  law  of  gravitation.  It  is  idle  to  say  that  we 
cannot  trust  where  w^e  do  not  know.  Just  at  this 
time  business  men  are  investing  more  money,  per- 
haps, in  the  development  of  machinery  and  inven- 
tions depending  upon  electricity  than  in  almost 
anything  else.  And  yet  none  of  them  know  very 
much  about  it,  and  many  of  them  scarcely  any- 
thing. When  telegraph  companies  are  investing 
millions  of  dollars  of  money  in  tying  continents  to- 


GOLDEN  VIALS  FULL  OF  ODORS.  251 

gether  with  great  cables,  and  railroad  companies  are 
spending  millions  more  in  building  roads  along 
which  is  to  run  the  circuit  of  strange  fire,  depend- 
ing entirely  for  returns  from  their  investments  on 
the  fidelity  of  a  force  that  is  almost  v/holly  a  stran- 
ger to  them,  it  is  surely  not  strange  that  men  and 
women  whose  hearts  are  warmed  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
who  feel  themselves  uplifted  and  comforted  when 
they  pray  to  God,  find  great  joy  and  peace  in  be- 
lieving, although  there  may  be  many  questions 
about  prayer  they  cannot  answer. 

If  we  take  up  the  study  of  our  text  in  the  light, 
not  of  philosophy,  but  of  God's  revelation  of  him- 
self to  us  as  a  Father,  it  becomes  at  once  a  natural, 
as  well  as  a  helpful,  picture.  It  assures  us  that  the 
sweetest  perfume  of  the  heavenly  home  is  the 
prayers  of  God's  faithful  children.  And  that  is  not 
hard  to  believe,  for  it  is  true  of  our  own  homes,  im- 
perfect as  they  are.  The  sweetest  perfumes  of  our 
homes  do  not  arise  from  elegant  furniture,  soft  car- 
pets, rare  pictures,  or  luxurious  viands.  Many  a 
home  having  all  these  is  pervaded  by  an  atmos- 
phere as  tasteless  and  as  odorless  as  bouquets  of 
waxen  flowers.  The  sweetest  perfume  that  the 
home  circle  ever  knows  rises  from  deeds  of  loving 
service  which  its  members  do  for  each  other.  The 
grateful  smile,  the  happy  prattle,  the  artless  appeals 
for  help  from  little  children  make  a  rarer  odor  to 
the  true  father  or  mother  than  any  that  gold  could 
buy  from  oriental  perfume  merchant.  If  this  be  true 
of  us,  why  shall  it  not  be  true  of  God,  who  possesses 
the  only  perfect  parental  heart  in  all  the  universe? 

The  figure  used  is  very  suggestive  and  very  beau- 


252  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

tiful.  The  open  vial  full  of  sweet  odors  exhales 
sweetness  unconsciously  and  thus  pervades  the  sur- 
rounding atmosphere.  It  overleaps  all  barriers. 
So  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  our  unconscious  in- 
fluence, whether  for  good  or  evil,  is  greater  than 
that  of  which  we  are  conscious.  Another  has  said 
that  it  is  not  so  much  when  we  assert  that  we  are 
conscientious  as  when  we  are  accidentally  discov- 
ered doing  some  conscientious  act  that  the  force  of 
our  character  is  felt.  A  man  may  talk  nobly  ;  but 
if  he  lives  in  secret  an  Impure  life  his  unconscious 
influence  for  evil  will  destroy  the  effects  of  his 
words.  Character  influences  independently  of  any 
professions ;  and  this  influence  of  character  is  the 
heaviest  weight  in  the  scale  of  life.  A  good  life 
will  preach  under  circumstances  where  no  word  is 
uttered,  and  will  stimulate  good  in  others  when  they 
themselves  are  unconscious  of  the  power  that  lifts 
them  heavenward.  The  Holy  Spirit,  incarnate  in 
men  and  women,  is,  I  doubt  not,  the  mightiest 
power  God  uses  in  this  world  for  our  salvation. 
Father  Taylor,  the  old  Seamen's  Bethel  preacher 
of  Boston,  once  impatiently  exclaimed,  ''  Folks  are 
better  than  angels."  Lucy  Larcom,  the  poet,  felt 
the  same  way,  for  on  one  occasion,  writing  a  letter 
to  one  in  sorrow,  she  wrote  these  words :  *'  I  think 
I  should  be  homesick  in  a  mansion  filled  with  angels 
if  my  own  precious  friends  whom  I  loved  were  not 
within  call."  It  is  a  glorious  thing  to  live  such  a 
life  that  precious  fragrance  shall  rise  from  it  and  be 
exhaled  unconsciously. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  this  heavenly  perfume.    I 
can  only  suggest  a  few  of  the  vials  ;  but  I  am  sure  that 


GOLDEN  VIALS  FULL  OF  ODORS.  253 

one  of  them  is  full  of  the  prayers  of  children.  Christ 
has  made  this  certain  ;  for  did  he  not  say,  ''  Except 
ye  be  converted,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye 
shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  "  Noth- 
ing can  surpass  the  sweet  trustfulness  and  faith  of 
children's  prayers.  To  a  little  child  it  seems  per- 
fectly natural  that  he  should  pray  to  God.  A  very 
pretty  story  is  going  around,  about  the  little  four- 
year-old  son  of  a  member  of  the  Georgia  Legislature. 
Having  left  the  boy  in  a  room  of  one  of  the  big 
hotels  in  the  city,  with  a  command  to  go  to  bed  im- 
mediately, the  father  went  down  to  seek  his  con- 
genial friends  in  the  office.  The  bell  boys  were 
soon  thrown  into  consternation  by  the  many  and 
various  calls  to  the  room  in  which  the  little  fellow 
had  been  left,  and  quite  a  number  of  them  were 
soon  collected  there.  But  it  was  neither  ice  water 
nor  fire  that  the  little  child  wanted.  He  astonished 
the  boys  with  this  unusual  request,  ''  Please,  sirs, 
send  some  one  to  me  to  hear  me  say  my  prayers." 
Childhood  ought  to  be  kept  thus  close  to  God.  A 
pastor  once  laid  his  hand  upon  a  little  boy's  head  in 
a  time  of  religious  revival  and  said,  ''  Well,  my  lit- 
tle man,  have  you  found  Christ?"  "Why,"  the 
little  boy  replied,  with  surprised  assurance,  "  I  have 
never  lost  him  !  "  Neither  need  they  ever  lose  him, 
if  we  are  faithful  to  our  duty. 

How  many  times  the  fragrance  of  a  child's  devo- 
tion is  God's  way  of  drawing  a  whole  family  heav- 
enward. During  a  revival  in  a  Michigan  town,  this 
last  winter,  a  little  girl  stood  up  in  the  Sunday 
school  with  those  who  promised  to  stand  by  the 

Lord  Jesus  and  work   for  him.     Later  in  the  day, 
17 


254  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

when  she  had  reached  home,  the  little  child  said  to 
her  mother,  "  Mamma,  we've  got  to  have  a  blessing 
asked  at  our  table."  "How  so,  my  child  ?  "  ''Well, 
I've  promised  this  afternoon  to  stand  by  this  work 
and  to  stand  by  the  Lord.  And  the  preacher  said 
we  must  pray  and  thank  God  for  our  food ;  and  I 
think  I'll  have  to  do  it,  as  you  don't  and  pa  don't. 
So,  if  you  will  speak  to  pa  about  it  I'll  ask  the  bless- 
ing." Well,  that  was  serious.  Later,  the  fact  was 
reported  to  the  husband,  who  said,  ''  Well,  it  won't 
hurt  to  let  the  child  have  her  way.  We  ought  to 
be  glad  that  she  is  inclined  to  be  religious.  We  can 
stand  it." 

So,  at  the  supper  table,  the  little  lass  was  allowed 
to  take  up  the  task  that  had  been  unperformed  in 
that  home.  She  did  it  about  like  this  :  "  O  Lord, 
bless  us  all  and  have  mercy  upon  us.  There's  father 
— he  isn't  a  Christian  ;  and  there's  mother — she  isn't 
a  Christian.  Bless  them.  I've  promised  to  stand 
by  you  in  this  work  and  to  stand  by  the  meetings. 
Bless  me.  Amen."  By  the  time  the  blessing  was 
closed  four  eyes  were  filled  with  tears,  and  the 
mother's  heart  opened  immediately  for  the  coming 
in  of  the  King  of  glory ;  and  we  can  believe  that, 
with  such  a  fragrance  as  that  in  that  home,  the  fa- 
ther stands  with  them  ere  this.  I  can  imagine  that, 
to  the  great  Father's  heart,  no  perfume  could  be  so 
sweet  as  a  little  child's  prayer. 

Then  there  are  mother's  prayers.  What  an  over- 
flowing vial  of  sweet  perfume  that  must  be  that 
holds  the  prayers  of  mothers  for  their  children.  O, 
the  power  of  a  mother's  prayers !  How  the  fra- 
grance of  them  lingers  in  the  heart  after  the  sound 


GOLDEN  VIALS  FULL  OF  ODORS.  255 

of  them  has  died  out  of  the  ear  many  years  agone ! 
The  Httle  sailor  lad  voiced  many  a  mature  man's 
thought  who,  when  told  that  he  was  the  only  one 
saved  in  the  wreckage  of  a  great  ship,  raised  both 
his  hands  and  cried  in  a  loud  voice,  **  My  mother 
has  been  praying  for  me,  my  mother's  been  pray- 
ing for  me !  " 

Bishop  Vincent  gives  this  very  sweet  picture  of 
the  Sabbath  evenings  with  his  mother  in  his  child- 
hood :  "  Beyond  the  '  holy  place '  was  the  *  holy 
of  holies.'  For  fifteen  years  that  I  can  remember, 
it  was  my  mother's  invariable  custom  to  take  the 
children  into  her  own  room  after  the  regular  Sab- 
bath evening  song  and  prayer.  In  the  darkness,  in 
the  twilight,  or  in  the  moonlight  we  followed  her. 
And  there,  seated  together  without  a  light,  she 
would  talk  in  a  tender  way  about  eternity  and  duty, 
about  our  faults  as  children,  her  anxiety  about  us, 
her  intense  desire  for  our  salvation,  how  we  ought 
to  be  more  patient  with  each  other,  more  cheerfully 
obedient  to  father,  more  guarded  in  our  speech. 
Then  we  knelt  together,  and  she  prayed.  And  how 
she  could  pray !  Living  with  God  seven  days  a 
week  through  all  the  weeks,  when  she  brought  us, 
her  children,  to  the  mercy  seat  on  Sabbath  evening 
was  not  heaven  opened,  and  did  not  the  place  seem 
holy  ground,  and  can  anyone  wonder  that  her  chil- 
dren cannot  recall  those  scenes  without  a  thrill  and 
a  flood  of  tears  and  a  vow  of  renewed  consecra- 
tion ?  "  If  there  be  here  any  mother  whose  prayers 
seem  not  to  have  been  heard  or  answered,  I  pray  you 
to  persevere,  and  to  be  encouraged  to  a  sublimer 
faith  and  confidence  in  God. 


256  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

Then  there  are  prayers  of  thanksgiving.  I  fear 
they  are  not  so  universal  as  they  ought  to  be.  When 
we  recall  all  the  goodness  of  God  we  ought  to  be 
bubbling  over  with  thanksgiving,  like  the  fountain 
on  the  mountain  side.  A  poet  whose  name  I  do  not 
know  describes  a  quaint,  sweet  custom  among  the 
herdsmen  of  the  Swiss  Alps : 

"The  day  dies  down  in  a  tender  glow 

From  the  setting  sun  on  each  lofty  height ; 

And,  as  the  last  beam  fades  away, 

A  message  sounds  forth  to  greet  the  night. 

'Tis  the  huntsman's  trumpet  sounding  abroad 

From  the  loftiest  peak,  '  Praise  God,  the  Lord  ! ' 

"  Solemnly  grand  the  message  sounds 

At  the  death  of  day  and  the  birth  of  night ; 

When  all  is  silence  and  sweet  repose, 
The  herdsman  up  on  the  loftiest  height 

Lifts  his  horn  on  the  hills  of  God, 

And  trumpets  his  message,  '  Praise  God,  the  Lord  ! ' 

"  Then  the  herdsmen  of  all  the  region  take 

Their  horns,  one  after  another,  and  lift 
Their  voices  up  to  repeat  the  call, 

Till  the  echoes  fill  valley,  and  cavern,  and  rift, 
One  after  another,  '  Praise  God,  the  Lord  ! ' 
Till  the  mountains  resound  with  the  name  of  God. 

"  Then  a  stillness  follows  ;  each  one  in  prayer 
Bends  his  knee,  till  down  from  the  height 

The  herdsman  sounds  his  trumpet  once  more. 

Repeated  by  herdsmen  and  echoes — '  Good  night ! ' 

And  soft  through  the  night  on  the  hills  of  God 

Floats  the  call, '  Good  night ' — '  Praise  God,  the  Lord ! '  " 

What  a  glorious  day  that  will  be  when  wars  have 
ceased,  and  hatred  has  been  conquered  by  love,  and 
up   from  the  hilltops   of  every  land  on   the  globe 


GOLDEN  VIALS  FULL  OF  ODORS.  257 

there  shall  go  the  glad  cry  to  greet  the  dying  day, 
''Praise  God,  the  Lord!" 

There  is  one  other  vial  of  perfume  which  we  know 
is  full  of  sweetest  fragrance  to  our  heavenly  Father 
— the  vial  which  holds  the  prayers  of  repentance. 
From  what  the  Saviour  has  told  us  we  know  that  this 
is  one  of  the  most  highly  prized  of  all  the  perfumes 
in  heaven.  Jesus  knew  all  about  heaven ;  and  yet 
he  has  not  told  us  a  great  deal  concerning  it.  His 
allusions  to  it  are  rare,  but  they  are  very  suggestive. 
One  of  them  is  in  that  fifteenth  chapter  of  Luke 
which  I  read  for  our  Scripture  lesson.  There  Christ 
draws  aside  the  veil  for  a  moment  and  reveals  to  us 
a  splendid  scene  in  heaven,  when  all  the  glad  bells 
are  ringing,  and  angels  and  ransomed  saints  together 
tune  their  harps  for  rarest  music — a  time  when  "there 
is  joy  in  heaven,"  ''joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels 
of  God."  And  the  cause  of  all  this  wonderful  joy 
is  that  here,  in  this  poor,  sin-cursed  world,  a  sinner 
is  on  his  knees  confessing  his  sins  and  pleading  for 
mercy.  I  pray  God  there  may  be  some  such  joy  in 
heaven  to-night  over  some  that,  here  and  now  while 
I  speak,  shall  lift  their  hearts  in  penitence  to  God 
and,  with  the  cross  before  their  eyes,  shall  cry  from 
the  soul's  depths,  *'  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sin- 
ner!" Our  study  to-night  ought  to  make  it  easier 
for  us  to  come  boldly  to  a  throne  of  grace  and  ask 
largely  that  our  joys  may  be  full.  We  live  narrow, 
half  starved  lives  spiritually  many  times  because 
our  prayers  are  niggardly,  and  our  faith  does  not 
grasp  the  infinite  riches  of  God's  power  and  love. 

I  remember  reading  a  little  incident  a  few  years 
since,  of  a  train  that  was  stalled  for  many  hours  in  a 


258  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

snowdrift  out  in  Colorado.  There  was  no  place  to 
get  food  for  the  passengers.  Banker  Seligman,  of 
New  York,  and  his  party  were  on  the  train,  having 
their  own  special  sleeping  car,  their  own  dining  car, 
and  a  large  store  of  provisions,  and  were,  therefore, 
well  provided  for.  The  conductor  of  the  train  finally 
went  to  the  banker  and  told  him  that  there  were  a 
number  of  ladies  in  the  other  cars  who  were  in  need 
of  food  and  drink.  The  banker  answered,  "  Go  and 
set  your  tables,  and  I  will  provide  the  food."  And 
he  set  his  cooks  and  servants  to  work  and  had  a 
bountiful  supply  of  everything  he  had  in  store  cooked 
up,  and  the  passengers  feasted.  He  then  turned  to 
the  laborers,  who  had  been  working  manfully,  sent 
his  servants  with  hampers  piled  full  of  good  things, 
and  every  man  was  waited  upon  until  satisfied. 

Now  that  was  a  nice  thing  for  that  rich  man,  who 
could  abundantly  afford  it,  to  do.  And  no  man  was 
afraid  to  eat  all  that  was  offered,  for  he  knew  that 
the  rich  banker  was  able  to  do  all  that  he  proposed. 
But  what  is  that,  my  brother,  compared  with  what 
your  heavenly  Father  is  able  to  do  ?  He  opens  his 
hand  and  feeds  every  living  thing.  It  was  thought 
to  be  a  great  thing  for  the  servants  of  the  rich 
banker  to  wait  upon  the  men  toiling  in  the  snow- 
drifts for  his  comfort,  and  it  was  generous  as  men 
count  generosity  ;  but  the  infinite  God  sends  swift- 
winged  angels  to  carry  richer  food  than  gold  can  buy 
to  the  poorest  soul  in  the  universe  that  asks.  It  is 
the  characteristic  of  a  great  soul  to  have  great  con- 
fidence and  be  willing  to  receive  all  that  God  is 
willing  to  give.  Do  not  measure  your  prayers  by 
your  poverty,  but  by  God's  unlimited  abundance ! 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS,  THE  ELOQUENT.        259 


XXIII. 

FREDERICK  DOUGLASS,  THE  ELOQUENT— THE 

MOST  PICTURESQUE  HISTORICAL  FIGURE 

IN  MODERN  TIMES.* 

"  Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen  ?" — 2  Sam. 
iii,  38. 

IF  I  were  asked  what  person  in  the  present  cen- 
tury had  fought  against  the  greatest  odds  and 
won  the  struggle  of  life  at  most  points  I  should  an- 
swer, Frederick  Douglass.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
talk  about  self-made  men  in  our  time,  and  we  have 
had  an  abundance  of  eloquence  concerning  Abraham 
Lincoln's  rise  from  the  occupation  of  rail-splitting 
to  the  presidency ;  concerning  General  Grant's  ca- 
reer, from  the  tannery  till  he  became  the  first  Amer- 
ican citizen  ;  and  concerning  Garfield's,  from  the 
towpath  to  the  White  House.  But  none  of  these 
men,  nor  all  of  them  put  together,  had  to  make  life's 
race  with  such  a  handicap  or  facing  such  odds  as 
Frederick  Douglass. 

Here  is  a  man,  who  learned  to  read  and  write  by 
studying  out  the  characters  made  by  the  carpenters 
in  the  Baltimore  lumber  yards,  yet  who  comes,  by 
his  own  devoted  efforts,  to  speak  the  English  lan- 
guage with  an  elegance  and  an  eloquence  equal  to 
that  of  Charles  Sumner  or  Henry  Ward  Beecher  in 
their   best  days.     Here  is  a  man  who  did  not  know 

*  Abstract  of  sermon. 


260  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

who  his  father  was,  who  saw  his  mother  only  a 
few  times — and  then  by  moonlight  or  by  glimpses 
caught  by  the  light  of  a  tallow  dip  in  a  log  cabin 
— yet  who  came  to  be  the  bosom  friend  of  John 
Bright,  the  intimate  counselor  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
the  boon  companion  of  Daniel  O'Connell  and  Father 
Mathew ;  who  came  to  be  loved  by  Wendell  Phil- 
lips and  William  Lloyd  Garrison  ;  who  was  held  in 
highest  honor  and  most  tender  regard  by  many  of 
the  noblest  women  of  both  continents ;  who  came 
to  be  the  undisputed  leader  of  his  race,  to  be  known 
wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken,  and  to 
be  respected  by  the  whole  civilized  world.  The 
story  of  his  life  is  the  most  romantic  in  all  modern 
times.  No  man  who  began  so  low  has  climbed  so 
high  as  he. 

Frederick  Douglass  had  many  elements  of  great- 
ness, and  one  of  the  greatest  was  his  power  of  grim 
perseverance.  He  had  the  power  to  patiently, 
ploddingly  whip  himself  through  any  hard  work 
that  must  be  done.  It  was  once  said  by  an  op- 
ponent of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  "  He  can  toil  ter- 
ribly." Frederick  Douglass  had,  in  a  remarkable 
degree,  that  **  terrible,"  irresistible  power  of  the 
toiler.  Whether  it  was  learning  to  read  and  write 
by  the  carpenters'  marks  on  sticks  of  building 
timber,  or  plodding  after  he  was  a  man  grown 
through  the  grammar  of  the  English  language,  or 
setting  himself  in  middle  age  to  acquire  that  in- 
formation and  knowledge  necessary  to  make  him 
a  skillful  friend  of  his  people,  he  had  the  persever- 
ance, the  pluck,  and  the  devotion  to  toil  mercilessly 
until  his  task  was  accomplished. 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS,  THE  ELOQUENT.         261 

Frederick  Douglass  had  great  ideals.  He  never 
compromised  with  himself  for  anything  less  than 
the  best  that  was  possible.  Nothing  short  of  being 
the  very  best  type  of  man  and  the  most  noble 
orator  that  it  was  possible  to  produce  out  of  his 
circumstances  and  gifts  satisfied  him  for  a  moment. 
These  lofty  ideals  alone  made  it  possible  for  him  to 
achieve  the  great  triumphs  of  his  life.  For,  after 
all,  the  greatest  triumph  of  Douglass's  life  is  not 
to  be  found  in  his  glorious  success  as  an  orator  or 
in  his  triumphs  as  a  political  leader,  but  in  the 
splendid  moral  fiber  of  the  man,  that  enabled  him 
to  live  a  life  which  is  not  only  a  precious  heritage 
to  his  own  race,  but  an  inspiration  to  men  of  all 
races  throughout  all  time.  Think  of  the  fearful 
odds  he  had  to  fight  against  in  order  to  produce 
such  a  moral  character.  Milton  says,  ''  It  is  a  long 
way  out  of  hell  up  to  light."  Think  of  the  hell  of 
lust  and  iniquity  into  which  Douglass  was  born. 
He  could  have  said  literally,  with  the  psalmist,  ''  In 
sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me."  He  was  born  in 
the  midst  of  that  enforced  tendency  to  every 
vicious  passion  and  unholy  appetite  that  springs 
from  the  world,  the  flesh,  or  the  devil ;  but,  in  spite 
of  it  all,  he  developed  a  strong,  robust  manhood, 
which  he  kept  clean  and  spotless  throughout  half  a 
century  lived  in  the  public  gaze.  Frederick  Doug- 
lass did  no  greater  thing  for  his  race  than  that. 

Douglass's  oratory  gained  much  of  its  power 
from  the  superb  manhood  that  was  behind  it.  I 
once  heard  him  deliver  his  great  address  on  John 
Brown  at  the  Music  Hall  in  Boston.  His  discus- 
sion of  the  law  of  retribution  was  the  strongest  I 


262  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

have  ever  heard.  As  he  stood  there  on  the  plat- 
form, giving  us  the  evolution  of  John  Brown,  he 
filled  one's  ideal  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets.  He 
reached  the  climax  in  these  words :  ''  The  cry  that 
went  up  from  the  startled  and  terrified  inhabitants 
of  Harper's  Ferry  was  but  the  echo  of  that  other 
cry  which  began  two  hundred  years  before,  when 
the  man  hunter  first  set  foot  in  the  quiet  African 
villages.  The  raid  on  Harper's  Ferry  was  con- 
tracted for  when  the  first  slave  ship  landed  on  these 
shores." 

"  The  question  has  been  often  asked,"  said 
Douglass,  in  that  great  address,  "why  Virginia, 
with  a  grand  magnanimity,  did  not  spare  John 
Brown  ?  But  they  had  a  thing  down  there,  and  that 
^/«>/^  could  not  stand  the  life  of  John  Brown.  Her 
own  Patrick  Henry  loved  liberty  for  the  rich  and 
great;  John  Brown  loved  liberty  for  the  poor  and 
lowly.  It  was  not  white  man  dying  for  white  man ; 
it  was  white  man  for  black."  Here  the  orator's 
presence  and  voice  became  electric.  Nothing  could 
surpass  the  majesty  of  his  appearance  as  he  thrilled 
our  souls  with  the  splendid  utterance  that  followed : 
"  He  came  down  from  the  heaven  of  New  England 
liberty  to  the  hell  of  African  slavery !  He  gave  his 
life  as  the  best  gift  he  could  lay  on  the  altar  of 
human  liberty !  " 

Frederick  Douglass  was  a  broad-spirited  public 
man.  He  was  too  large  a  man  for  any  bitter, 
bigoted  partisanship.  His  declaration  not  long  ago, 
in  a  letter  which  has  been  printed,  **  I  am  a  Repub- 
lican, but  I  am  not  a  '  Republican  right  or  wrong,'  " 
shows  the  breadth  of  the  man.     And  it  is  well  to 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS.  THE  ELOQUENT.        263 

notice  in  connection  with  this  fact  the  marvelous 
growth,  in  his  own  time,  of  toleration  of  the  freedom 
of  principles  and  speech.  This  is  illustrated  in  the 
adjournment  of  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives in  his  honor  on  receiving  the  news  of 
his  death. 

It  was  very  appropriate  that  his  last  appearance 
in  public  should  have  been  on  the  platform  of  the 
woman's  council  on  the  very  day  of  his  death.  To 
no  other  cause  had  he  given  more  sincere  devotion 
than  to  the  equality  of  right  and  privilege  between 
men  and  women.  I  heard  him  one  time  ask,  with 
stinging  sarcasm,  in  an  address  on  woman  suffrage, 
in  reply  to  the  suggestion  that  the  pool  of  politics 
was  too  dirty  to  allow  Avomen  to  enter  it,  ''Who 
made  the  pool  dirty  ?  No  woman  has  been  playing 
in  it !  "  The  fact  that  a  bill,  now  before  the  New 
York  Legislature,  to  punish  by  flogging  certain 
classes  of  human  brutes  has  been  so  amended  by 
that  august  body  as  to  permit  a  man  to  beat  his  wife 
without  danger  of  punishment,  so  far  as  this  bill  is 
concerned,  very  clearly  indicates  that  there  is  great 
necessity  that  Frederick  Douglass's  mantle  shall  fall 
upon  younger  men.  His  position  that  a  disfran- 
chised class  will  always  be  an  oppressed  class  was 
well  taken.  No  man  doubts  for  a  moment  that, 
if  equal  suffrage  had  been  granted  by  the  last 
constitutional  convention,  the  wife  beater  would 
have  had  to  take  his  flogging  along  with  the  other 
brutes. 

A  career  like  that  of  Frederick  Douglass  is  at 
once  an  honor  and  an  inspiration  to  humanity.  In 
such  a  man  the  kinship  of  all  races  is  demonstrated. 


264  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

In   the  presence  of  such  a  personaUty  all  men  in- 
stinctively agree  with  John  Boyle  O'Reilly's  song: 

"  The  trapper  died — our  hero — and  we  grieved  ; 

In  every  heart  in  camp  the  sorrow  stirred. 
'  His  soul  was  red  ! '  the  Indian  cried,  bereaved  ; 

♦  A  white  man,  he  ! '  the  grim  old  Yankee's  word. 

"  So,  brief  and  strong,  each  mourner  gave  his  best — 
How  kind  he  was,  how  brave,  how  keen  to  track  ; 

And  as  we  laid  him  by  the  pines  to  rest, 

A  negro  spoke,  with  tears,  '  His  heart  was  black  ! '  " 


A  FARSIGHTED  RELIGION.  265 


XXIV. 
A  FARSIGHTED   RELIGION. 

*'  H«  that  lacketh  these  things  is  blind,  and  cannot  see  afar  off." — 
2  Peter  i,  9. 

THE  interest  of  our  study  naturally  centers  in 
what  is  contained  in  "  these  things,"  for  they 
are  the  lenses  through  which  we  are  to  obtain  far-off 
views  of  life  and  destiny.  We  have  them  stated  for 
us  with  great  simplicity  in  the  verses  which  precede 
our  text.  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  suggestion 
that  it  is  the  diligent  soul  that  will  be  able  to  use 
these  spiritual  glasses.  Sleepy  eyes  never  see  any- 
thing. The  victors  of  life  are  those  who  consecrate 
themselves  to  earnestness  and  diligence.  The  great- 
est successes  are  first  won  in  the  inner  man.  The 
most  important  battles  are  first  fought  on  the  bat- 
tlefield of  the  soul : 

*'  There  is  an  unseen  battlefield 

In  every  human  breast, 
Where  two  opposing  forces  meet, 

And  where  they  seldom  rest. 
That  field  is  veiled  from  mortal  sight — 

'Tis  only  seen  by  One 
Who  knows  alone  where  victory  lies 

When  each  day's  fight  is  done." 

The  first  great  lens  of  the  Christian  soul  is  faith 
— a  faith  like  that  which  Abraham  had,  who,  though 
he  dwelt  in  a  desert,  lived  in  constant  view  of  "  a 


266  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

city  which  hath  foundations,  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God."  As  Thomas  Starr  King  once  elo- 
quently declared,  such  a  faith  gilds  the  horizon  of 
our  being  with  a  heavenly  glory. 

The  statement  of  our  text  is  daily  verified  in  the 
case  of  those  who,  in  the  absence  of  this  faith,  ex- 
perience a  pitiable  blankness  and  barrenness  of  soul. 
In  the  absence  of  faith,  the  body  weighs  us  down  ; 
we  are  helpless  prisoners  in  it.  We  forget  our  na- 
tive realm  and  come  easily  to  believe  that  the  grave 
is  the  goal  of  life.  Every  argument  that  can  be 
urged  in  proof  of  immortality  is  of  little  avail. 
Even  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  a  wonderful 
story  merely  to  a  thorough  sensualist  whose  as- 
pirations have  never  reached  beyond  pleasure  and 
the  present,  whose  meditations,  sent  forth  like 
doves  from  the  floating  ark  of  life,  have  never 
brought  back  a  green  and  budding  promise  of  the 
solid  land. 

To  feel  a  conviction  of  immortality  we  must  live 
for  it.  Let  anyone  firmly  believe  that  the  soul  is 
permanent  and  live  in  accordance  with  that  belief, 
and  soon  existence  will  seem  permanent  too ;  the 
world  becomes  the  veil  of  a  brighter  glory  that  lies 
behind  it ;  the  condemnation  of  unbelief  is  lifted 
off,  since  the  mind,  conscious  of  its  own  rooted  be- 
ing, does  not  wait  for  immortality,  but  is  ''passed 
from  death  unto  life."  Such  a  faith  renews  the 
youth  of  the  one  who  obtains  his  visions  of  life 
through  it.  "  They  tell  me  I  am  growing  old,"  said 
the  great  Scotch  preacher,  Dr.  Guthrie,  "  because 
my  hair  is  silvered,  and  there  are  crow's  feet  upon 
my  forehead,  and  my  step  is  not  so  firm  and  elastic 


A  FARSIGHTED  RELIGION.  267 

as  of  yore.  But  they  are  mistaken  ;  that  is  not  I. 
The  brow  is  wrinkled,  but  the  brow  is  not  I.  This 
is  the  house  in  which  I  live ;  but  I  am  young — 
younger  now  than  I  ever  was  before." 

Virtue  is  the  next  lens  which  Peter  mentions  in 
his  conditions  of  a  farsighted  soul.  We  are  to  un- 
derstand by  this  word  ''  virtue"  moral  goodness,  a 
conforming  of  our  lives  to  the  requirements  of  the 
moral  law.  The  man  whose  habit  it  is  to  live  like 
that  will  acquire  what  may  be  called  a  moral  sense, 
which  gives  not  only  a  clear  vision  of  what  is  right 
and  wrong,  but  enables  the  virtuous  soul  to  peer 
through  the  fog  and  sophistry  of  worldly  standards 
and  know  intuitively  that  which  is  right.  It  is  a 
very  common  thing  for  young  people  who  are  be- 
ginning to  taste  the  poisonous  sweets  of  sin  to  imag- 
ine that  they  are  very  sharp  and  shrewd  ;  but  we 
may  be  sure  that  it  is  only  the  truly  virtuous  soul 
that  is  clear-headed. 

A  world-wide  traveler  relates  that  he  was  sitting 
one  day  at  table  at  a  restaurant  in  Paris,  when  he 
was  unintentionally  the  hearer  of  a  conversation  in 
a  language  it  was  supposed  by  the  speakers  he  did 
not  understand.  A  young  fellow  from  London  was 
telling  his  French  tutor  of  the  "  very  remarkable  " 
conquest  he  had  made  upon  the  boulevards.  The 
*'  simple  youth,"  as  Solomon  calls  him,  was  so 
charmed  with  his  success  in  so  unexpected  a  quarter 
that  he  poured  into  the  ear  of  his  friend  such  a  ro- 
mance as  might,  he  believed,  constitute  the  plot  of 
a  modern  novel.  What  was  his  evident  surprise  to 
hear  from  the  Parisian,  as  he  pushed  back  his  plate 
in    unconcealed   weariness,  "  My  young   friend,   I 


268  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

have  heard  all  of  that  more  than  a  thousand  times.'* 
And  one  could  see,  by  the  change  that  came  over 
the  countenance  of  the  "  young  man  void  of  under- 
standing," that  he  had  learned  that,  instead  of  being 
a  charmer,  he  was  simply  a  dupe.  And  anyone 
hearing  me  to-night,  who  imagines  that  somehow 
he  can  cheat  God  and  sow  to  the  wind  and  not  reap 
the  whirlwind,  may  be  assured  that  when  he  is 
called  upon  to  pay  the  cost  of  his  sin,  as  he  un- 
doubtedly will  be,  he  will  find  the  bitterest  ingre- 
dient in  the  penalty  to  be  the  patent  proof  that, 
instead  of  being  a  world-conqueror,  he  is  only  one 
more  fool  added  to  the  long  succession  of  fools. 

Among  the  Japanese,  the  god  of  thunder  is  rep- 
resented by  the  most  frightful  features  that  can  be 
devised  for  the  countenance  of  any  being  at  all  re- 
sembling man.  And  to  this  creature  the  name 
Ema  is  given.  It  is  a  proverb  in  the  Sunrise  King- 
dom that  "  when  the  sinner  comes  to  settle  he  will 
see  Ema's  face."  It  is  only  the  straightforward, 
genuine  soul  that  can  confront  all  emergencies  and 
fear  nothing.  How  pitiable  is  all  affectation  com- 
pared to  real  genuineness  of  character  ! 

Henry  Clay  used  to  relate  a  story  which,  to  his 
mind,  illustrated  the  surpassing  tact  and  natural 
good  manners  of  American  women.  During  a  pres- 
idential campaign,  after  he  had  addressed  a  mass 
meeting  in  a  Kentucky  town,  one  of  the  neighbor- 
ing farmers  invited  him  to  a  dinner  at  an  early  date 
to  meet  some  of  the  leading  Whigs  of  the  country. 
When  the  day  arrived  Mr.  Clay  rode  up  to  the 
farmhouse  and  was  surprised  to  see  no  stir  of  prepa- 
ration ;    for    the    hospitable    Kentuckians    usually 


A  FARSIGHTED  RELIGION.  269 

found  no  banquet  too  rich  for  their  beloved  leader. 
The  farmer's  wife,  in  a  homespun  gown  and  white 
apron,  was  feeding  the  chickens.  She  turned, 
startled,  then  approached  him  smiling.  '*  It  is  Mr. 
Clay  !  Come  in.  My  husband  will  be  here  in  a 
moment."  She  led  him  directly  into  her  clean, 
cheerful  kitchen  and  blew  the  horn  to  summon  her 
husband  and  sons,  giving  them  a  warning  look  as 
they  entered. 

*'  I  knew,"  Mr.  Clay  said,  ''  there  was  a  blunder 
somewhere.  But  there  was  no  hint  of  it  in  my  host- 
ess's manner,  as  she  soon  after  composedly  placed 
the  single  dish  of  food  on  the  table  and  invited  us 
to  be  seated.  The  dish  was  pig's  jowl  and  cabbage, 
and  was  exceedingly  well  cooked.  I  never  enjoyed 
a  meal  more  or  listened  to  better  talk.  When  the 
dinner  was  over  and  I  was  preparing  to  mount  my 
horse  the  farmer's  wife  came  out.  '  You  will  dine 
with  us  to-morrow  and  meet  the  politicians  as  you 
promised,  Mr.  Clay?'  she  said.  'We  are  so  hon- 
ored and  grateful  by  your  coming  to  us  alone  to- 
day.' "  The  next  day  a  large  company  of  men  sat 
down  to  a  royal  dinner.  ''  But,"  said  Henry  Clay, 
"  I  enjoyed  the  jowl  and  cabbage  most.  It  had  the 
flavor  of  the  finest  hospitality." 

That  was  a  social  triumph  of  the  true  lady.  She 
had  self-composure,  because  she  had  self-respect  and 
was  sure  of  her  ground.  Real  virtue  and  goodness 
are  like  that.  They  are  in  the  fiber  of  the  very 
being.  There  is  a  certain  self-respect  of  righteous- 
ness, a  calmness  and  a  composure,  a  clear-eyedness 
of  virtue,  that  can  never  be  possessed  except  by  the 

soul  conscious  of  its  genuineness  in  God's  sight. 
18 


270  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

The  apostle  points  out  here  two  other  lenses, 
knowledge  and  temperance,  that  should  be  acquired 
by  every  one  of  us  in  the  everyday  experience  and 
observation  of  our  lives.  We  ought  to  be  glad,  as 
the  years  fly  and  the  white  hairs  and  the  wrinkles 
come,  that  we  can  win  the  precious  gift  of  experi- 
ence from  life's  treasury  and  correct  by  it  our  false 
standards  and  narrow  prejudices.  The  experiences 
of  life  which  we  are  passing  through  are  only  of 
value  to  us  because  of  the  knowledge  we  are  able 
to  obtain  and  make  our  own  as  we  pass  along  the 
journey.  If  we  are  really  growing  with  the  years 
we  shall  know  it  by  the  deepening  of  the  channel 
of  experience,  the  rich  treasures  of  knowledge  we 
have  gathered,  and  the  temperance  and  moderation 
which  we  have  gained  in  life's  school.  One  may  be 
as  old  as  Methuselah,  but  if  he  has  gained  no  knowl- 
edge as  he  has  gone  along  the  way  he  is  yet  blind 
and  cannot  see  afar  off.  Dr.  Barrows  beautifully 
says  :  "  It  matters  not  how  rudely  the  winds  of  fate 
may  shake  the  time  tree,  sweeping  down  the  fairest 
leaves  and  buds,  if  we  find  something  within  us  un- 
shaken and  have  made  our  profit  out  of  every  loss, 
as  well  as  every  gain.  The  main  thing,  in  fact  the 
only  thing,  is  to  deepen  the  channel  of  experience 
year  by  year  as  we  march  on,  pitching  our  tent, 
building  our  camp  fire,  and  leaving  behind  us  graves 
and  broken  hopes,  and  shattered  fortunes,  tears, 
sighs,  memories  sad  and  sweet — all  that  part  of  us 
that  perishes  as  we  die  daily,  yet  live  eternally  to 
God." 

Patience  is  another  lens  through  which  we  are  to 
behold  the  beautiful  visions  that  are  afar  off.   There 


A  FARSIGHTED  RELIGION.  271 

is  no  nobler  grace  than  patience.  How  many  of  us 
come  to  sorrow  through  our  impatience!  Mrs. 
Browning  tells,  in  a  poem,  the  story  of  a  little  flower 
that  prayed  that  it  might  come  out  before  the  other 
flowers  and  be  in  advance  of  the  spring,  and  said, 
^'  How  all  nature  will  hail  me,  how  the  birds  will 
sing  at  my  advent,  how  the  sun  will  shine  upon  me, 
how  the  air  will  stoop  and  kiss  my  petals  !  "  And 
the  prayer  was  granted,  and  it  came  before  its  time, 
and  the  snow  looked  scornfully  on  it,  and  said,  "Who 
are  you  that  are  like  a  bit  of  the  snow  ?  "  And  there 
were  no  birds  to  sing,  and  the  sun  hid  itself,  and  the 
rain  was  cold  and  bitter,  and  the  impatient  little 
flower,  that  begged  to  be  born  before  its  time,  died 
before  its  time.  Patience  is  serene  and  beautiful, 
whether  in  the  palace  or  the  hovel.  Bishop  Home 
says  of  patience :  *'  Behold  her  appearance  and  at- 
tire !  Her  countenance  is  calm  and  serene  as  the 
face  of  heaven,  unspotted  by  the  shadow  of  a  cloud  ; 
and  no  wrinkle  of  grief  or  anger  is  seen  in  her  fore- 
head. Her  eyes  are  as  the  eyes  of  doves  for  meek- 
ness, and  on*  her  eyebrows  sit  cheerfulness  and  joy. 
Her  mouth  is  lovely  in  silence  ;  her  complexion  and 
color  those  of  innocence  and  security.  She  is 
clothed  in  the  robes  of  the  martyrs,  and  in  her 
hands  she  holds  a  scepter  in  the  form  of  a  cross. 
She  is  not  in  the  whirlwind  and  stormy  tempest  of 
passion,  but  her  throne  is  the  humble  and  contrite 
heart,  and  her  kingdom  is  the  kingdom  of  peace." 

The  next  lens  in  this  Christian  observatory  is 
godliness.  And  this  is  true,  whether  we  take  the 
word  to  mean  that  we  are  to  endeavor  to  become 
like  God,  or  whether  we  come  to  meditate  upon 


272  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

him  and  see  him  in  all  things,  great  or  small,  in  the 
world  about  us.  Many  a  fog-cloud  is  cleared  away 
when  we  can  see  God  in  everything,  when  we  can 
sing  with  the  poet, 

"  I  say  it  over  and  over,  and  yet  again  to-day  ; 

It  rests  my  heart  as  surely  as  it  did  yesterday  : 

'  It  is  the  Lord's  appointment !  ' 

Whatever  my  work  may  be, 
I  am  sure,  in  my  heart  of  hearts, 
He  has  offered  it  for  me. 

"  I  must  say  it  over  and  over,  and  again  to-day, 
For  my  work  is  somewhat  different  from  yesterday  : 
'  It  is  the  Lord's  appointment ! ' 

It  quiets  my  restless  will 
Like  voice  of  a  tender  mother. 
And  my  heart  and  will  are  still. 

"  I  will  say  it  over  and  over,  this  and  every  day. 
Whatsoever  the  Master  orders,  come  what  may  : 
'  It  is  the  Lord's  appointment ! ' 

For  only  his  love  can  see 
What  is  wisest,  best,  and  right. 
What  is  truly  good  for  me." 

If  we  rightly  appreciate  our  own  relation  to  God 
it  is  easy  to  look  through  the  next  lens,  which  is 
brotherly  kindness.  If  you  want  to  find  a  glass  that 
will  show  you  into  the  secret  depths  of  the  human 
heart  this  is  the  one  to  use.  Bishop  Weaver  tells 
the  story  of  a  young  lawyer,  who  visited  a  hospital 
and  sat  down  by  a  cot  and  talked  kindly  to  a  poor, 
miserable  wreck.  The  man  drew  the  bedclothes 
over  his  face  and  wept  as  if  his  heart  would  break. 
When  he  could  speak  he  said,  "  You  are  the  first 
man  that  has  spoken  a  kind  word  to  me,  and  I  can't 


A  FARSIGHTED  RELIGION.  273 

stand  it."  Men  may  think  and  talk  as  they  please  ; 
but  observation  and  experience  will  teach  any  man 
of  common  sense  that  the  nearest,  most  direct  path 
to  the  human  heart  is  brotherly  kindness.  John 
Boyle  O'Reilly  sings  : 

"  '  What  is  the  real  good  ?  * 
I  asked  in  a  musing  mood. 

"  Order,  said  the  court ; 

Knowledge,  said  the  school ; 
Truth,  said  the  wise  man  ; 

Pleasure,  said  the  fool ; 
Beauty,  said  the  page  ; 

Freedom,  said  the  dreamer ; 
Home,  said  the  sage  ; 

Fame,  said  the  soldier  ; 
Equity,  the  seer. 

Spake  my  heart  full  sadly, 

*  The  answer  is  not  here.' 

"  Then  within  my  bosom 
Softly  this  I  heard  : 

*  Each  heart  holds  the  secret — 

Kindness  is  the  word.'  " 

How  much  we  lose  in  spiritual  vision,  while  try- 
ing to  illumine  the  hearts  of  those  we  love,  through 
failing  to  express  at  a  time  when  it  is  needed  the 
brotherly  kindness  that  we  often  feel !  Bishop 
Henry  C.  Potter  relates  that  several  years  ago  a 
number  of  distinguished  men  gathered  in  Calvary 
Church,  New  York  city,  to  bear  their  testimony  to 
the  life  and  influence  of  Dr.  Edward  A.  Washburn. 
One  after  another,  Phillips  Brooks  and  others  like 
him  rose  in  their  places  in  the  crowded  church  chapel 
to  tell  what  they  owed  to  the  genius,  the  high  spirit, 


274  THE  CHRIST  DREAM. 

the  unswerving  loyalty  to  duty,  the  splendid  cour- 
age, the  rare  scholarship,  the  philosophic  insight, 
the  prophetic  utterance  of  Dr.  Washburn.  At  last 
the  testimony  was  done.  At  the  door  all  the  time 
there  had  stood  a  slender  woman,  who  had  been 
during  his  life  nearest  to  him  of  whom  they  had 
been  speaking.  "  I  never  shall  forget  her  face," 
says  Bishop  Potter,  "  the  passion  of  it  and  the  pa- 
thos of  it,  nor  the  power,  tender  but  reproachful, 
with  which  she  spoke,  when  at  length  we  were  still, 
*  O,  if  you  all  loved  Edward  so,  why  didn't  you  tell 
him  of  it  while  he  lived  ?'  " 

One  who  has  mastered  the  spirit  of  brotherly 
kindness  has  already  looked  through  the  lens  of  love 
— love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  John  says,  "  We 
love  him,  because  he  first  loved  us."  It  is  the 
knowledge  of  God's  love  that  wins  ours.  Without 
that  precious  knowledge  we  may  sing,  tremblingly, 

"  O,  how  I  fear  thee,  living  God, 

With  deepest,  tenderest  fears, 
And  worship  thee  with  humble  hope 

And  penitential  tears ! " 

But  when  we  see  God's  loving  heart  we  are  able  to 
sing  with  joy, 

"  Yet  do  I  love  thee,  too,  O  Lord  ! 

Almighty  as  thou  art ; 
For  thou  hast  stooped  to  ask  of  me 

The  love  of  my  poor  heart." 

If  we  accustom  ourselves  to  the  use  of  these  glori- 
ous glasses  that  belong  to  the  observatory  of  the 
soul  our  hearts  shall  beat  in  sympathy  with  Dr.  A. 


A  FARSIGHTED  RELIGION.                       275  ] 

J.  Gordon,  who  has  so  recently  ceased  to  sing  on  ; 
earth  that  he  might  join  the  singers  on  high : 

"  I  shall  see  the  King  in  his  beauty,  ■ 

In  the  land  that  is  far  away,  . 

When  the  shadows  at  length  have  lifted,  ] 

And  the  darkness  has  turned  to  day.  \ 

\ 

"  To  behold  the  Chief  of  ten  thousand,  | 

Ah !  my  soul,  this  were  joy  enough  ; 

'Twill  suffice  for  the  bliss  of  heaven  i 

That  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof." 


Theological  Seminary-Speer 


1    1012  01148  9004 


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